Academia Pretty Cure!
by Ryta-chan
Summary: Renge Kotori's in her final year year of high-school and plans to make this her most successful school year possible! Academically, of course. But when a when a bird named Renny informs her that his homeland Univer City,and her world's in is in big trouble, she's forced to try and live the successful school year she's been aspiring for and save the world! But,can she do them both?
1. Oh, didn't expect that

In this universe, there is so much we take for granted. So many things that we have the ability to do and yet, we never stop to appreciate and think about how versatile and adept we are as human beings. We're capable of feeling things, things as simple as happiness and things we can't even fathom to express in words. Over so many years, we have been able to adapt to face up against the obstacles of the universe. We're ever-changing, forever and always adapting. Forever and always, learning.

Another thing we have admission to is all this knowledge uncovered through out thousands and thousands of years. Be it stored away in an encyclopedia or exposed as a shocking revelation to mankind. Everyday, we're growing and evolving, modifying ourselves to suit our surroundings, whether it's learning how to preform a task with a more efficient method, or disciplining ourselves to act in a certain manner around others. Whatever the situation, wherever the location, we never stop learning. With all this knowledge and all this intelligence, we become more aware of things such as worst-case scenarios and the concept of failure. A thought no one likes to brood over, but for some it just can't be helped. But, at one point or another, everyone will face this desolating experience. What most don't know however is, it's not the failure that matters, it's how you overcome it.

Somewhere, far off into another realm a world with an abundance of knowledge exists, a world where revelations from the future have already been discovered, a world where everyone is practically a scholar. Where murals are excerpts from textbooks, where knowledge is absolute power. Where text books are read to children as if they were bed-time stories; Where every student aspires to possess an IQ on par with the Headmistress, the leader of this land. This land is Univer City, and it's fully dedicated to cultivating and harboring all the knowledge mankind has to offer. While this land is very much rich in wisdom and appears to be centuries beyond the human world academically, it does happen to share some similarities with the human world. Regular humans populate Univer City. They're normal for the most part, but what does set them apart from humans of the human world is their devoted obsession with intellect and their constant urge to learn more. Everyone here has some subject they're constantly working effortlessly to know more about until they've learned everything there is to know about it. Sounds strange doesn't it? Everyone here devotes themselves to a subject here and vows to learn anything and everything regarding said subject. Though a little odd, it does sound somewhat familiar right? Of course, this land undoubtedly has a plethora of differences from the human world. People here are able to do things like memorize the lengthiest of text books pages and encyclopedia passages all for the sake of bettering themselves. Yes, this world and the human world are both so alike yet so different that it makes you wonder, how is it that places like this can even co-exist? No one knows.

The Headmistress is a brilliant, beautiful woman who is acclaimed to be the smartest in the land and therefore, she's the leader. But it may actually be because she was born into this 'royal' family and therefore the title was passed down to her, along with the fact that this title also gave her the honor of protecting the Book of Omnipotence. The Book is what brought Univer City into existence and it has enough power to do just as much harm as good. Which is actually something that worries the Headmistress immensely. In the possession of the Headmistress, it does just what it's supposed to do. It sits under a small glass dome on a pedestal and collects the knowledge and historical events from years to come along with the maintaining and remembering the facts from years that have past. Everyday, the book gets a little bigger. In fact, the book itself is actually the size of an average encyclopedia that only has two thousand pages. So, ultimately, the writing within the book is very, very small. Anyone whoever gets the chance to see the inside of the book usually feels under-whelmed after looking at it, but they know the book is so much more than your average encyclopedia.

As knowledgeable as the book is, it does have some weak points, if falling into the wrong hands counts as a weak point. Normally, that never happens. It's actually never happened, so when it nearly did, everyone was in absolute fear of what would happen to their beloved land.

It was a very much average day, not one for the books. Everything went as accordingly. The sun rose at five on this last day of summer and the wind returned to chill the civilians of Univer City that summer was just about gone. Another very normal thing for this land was for every kid to be ridiculously excited about going back to school. Never heard of that? Well, welcome to Univer. Today seemed pretty run-of-the-mill for the most part but for some reason, the Headmistress seemed on edge and she herself couldn't explain why.

"Well if that's the case, should we alert the guards?" One of the Headmistress' nobles asked.

"I'm not sure..but I suppose that's the only thing we can do right now." The Headmistress responded. The noble nodded slowly and as he went, a very shrill scream was heard. The Headmistress's face fell, she knew whatever she felt coming had already made an appearance within her castle. She sprang off her throne and ran off with the noble in the direction of the scream.

The two found themselves in the court yard where a woman with snow white hair and burgundy eyes was seen holding a golden-blond teenaged girl by the neck.

"Headmistress!" The girl choked out.

"Kin..." The Headmistress said between clenched teeth.

"Who is she?" The noble asked sounding truly puzzled.

Before the Headmistress could respond, the woman went off on a tangent about who exactly she was.

"Who am I you ask?" The woman asked with a devious giggle that quickly transformed into a powerful cackle. She dropped Kin on the ground, the girl now passed out against the grassy pasture.

"I am what your society of intellect absolutely detests. I am the desire to erase and eradicate the world of all that once was and that will be. I am the need to disappear, never to be seen or heard of again. I am the temptation to stop everything and obliterate anything that comes in my way. I am Temptasia!"

"Erase everything?" The Headmistress repeated with an unsure scoff.

"What do you mean by that?" The noble asked.

"I mean..." Temptasia began as she materialized the Book of Omnipotence into her hands. Impulsively, the Headmistress charged towards Temptasia but the white-haired woman was untouchable. An invisible barrier kept her and the Headmistress apart and so, the Headmistress stood hesitantly; waiting for Temptasia to explain herself.

"..Destroy this book!" She cackled as she held one part of the book in both of her hands. The Headmistress ran up to her again, this time holding her fist out in an attempt to punch through the barrier Temptasia had created. Suddenly a man wearing a worn-out and tattered military uniform appeared and held together the barrier as Temptasia tried to rip the book apart.

"Just who are-?" The Headmistress spat before she figured out who it was.

"...No, you couldn't be."

"Think you can hit me now?" Temptasia jeered, still attempting to split the book in two.

The Headmistress banged her fists against the barrier madly in hopes of breaking it down. Meanwhile on the other side of the barrier, Temptasia's patience was wearing thin with the book.

"Why won't you rip in half?!" Temptasia questioned, appearing to try and tear apart the book with all her might. Suddenly, the book glowed a blinding light and everyone in the vicinity was forced to shut their eyes.

"What's happening?" The noble asked as he attempted to squint a glimpse of the book.

And all of a sudden, the book vanished. Everyone was speechless, unsure of what just happened and just how exactly to react.

"The book..." The Headmistress whispered in devastation.

"..You monster!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Temptasia gave her a wink upon hearing that.

"Well then, I guess whoever finds it first gets to become it's rightful owner. In the mean time, we'll just check and see how well the humans from the other realm react to having their Inner Scholar ripped up to shreds."

"I don't care if you have a problem with me, just don't involve their world.." The Headmistress demanded impatiently.

"No can do, 'cause chances are..the book is somewhere in there." Temptasia snickered as she and the boy disappeared.

The Headmistress lunged for Temptasia but with no avail. She looked down at her hand listlessly for a few moments.

"Am I really this weak?"

The noble, who had been calling her for the last three minutes, was now shouting her name to get her attention.

"Headmistress, you and I both know that not all hope is lost."

"Well, you know I can't put my trust in a myth." The Headmistress said as she stormed off back into the castle.

"Headmistress!" The noble cried in a pleading tone as he went after her. As he caught up to her, he began to speak.

"Now, I know that nobody has ever proved them to be real, but no one has ever proven that the Pretty Cure are just a myth either!" The noble attempted to reason nervously.

"Forget it. I'll just look for the book here myself." The Headmistress declared with an icy tone.

"And suppose the book actually did wind up in the human realm. Then what will we do?" The noble questioned.

"And let's not forget about all of those innocent humans Temptasia will corrupt one-by-one." He added.

"So what do you want me to do?" The Headmistress finally shouted.

"What you know you should do."

"But-"

"If you don't send someone to look for the Pretty Cure, then who will?" The noble finally asked.

The Headmistress looked up toward the noble with her doe eyes and a small pout carved onto her mouth.

"They're our only hope." The noble concluded.

The Headmistress immediately summoned a fairy she knew she could trust to perform this task. After the fairy had arrived and she explained the situation, she sat on her throne awaiting his response anxiously.

"I understand if you aren't comfortable with going to the human realm, but..out of of everyone in Univer City, you're the only one who I believe can do this." The Headmistress confessed.

Renny took a moment to think about this. Currently, the fate of Univer City and the human realm would lie in his hands (along with the Pretty Cure) if he accepted this task. But there was so much at risk; the lives of said Pretty Cures, his own life. Ultimately though, if the Headmistress trusted him this much, how could he say no?

The Headmistress gazed down at the orange little bird, awaiting his response while internalizing how nervous she was becoming.

"I'll do it." He finally replied. The Headmistress felt a wave of relief come over her, finally, she stood a chance against Temptasia!

"But..." The Headmistress began,"..Chances are, Temptasia isn't working on her own. So, keep record of every rival and subordinate from Temptasia, we need to find a way to get rid them, but we need to know just what exactly we're up against."

"I understand." Renny responded with a quick nod.

"Then come this way," The Headmistress said softly as she walked down the long hall just outside of the room. Renny flew along and as soon as he caught up to her, they already arrived to their destination. In front of them was an enormous door made of oak and adorned with small crystals along the frame. On the center of the door was an old-fashioned handle used as a way of knocking on the door. The Headmistress knocked four times and the door had called out,

"State your desired destination."

"The human realm!" The Headmistress cried out in a triumphant door then swung open, revealing a kaleidoscope hyperspace that assumedly led to the human realm.

Cautiously, Renny touched the hyperspace with the tip of his wing, and then dove in.

"Be careful!" The Headmistress called out.

Renny landed in a bush and was caught between some leaves. After breaking out from the bush, he examined his surroundings to try and determine just where he was. It seemed like a very average area, a terrain that definitely belonged to the human realm. Nothing too spectacular, but one thing did catch his eye.

"Is that a school?"

From within a house the same morning, a feminine voice could be heard yelling,"Renge, are you awake or-?!"

"Yes!" The girl, Renge gasped out as she sprang up from her bed. It felt unnatural, she'd never done anything of the sort. It seemed as if she answered in her sleep, but she yelled? Maybe her mom had developed a method to infiltrate her dreams and nag her even while unconscious. Renge exhaled a giant breath and looked down to her bedspread. Today was likely going to be a very bittersweet day. But, she was pretty sure that was normal considering it was her last first day of school. High-school, at least. It made her feel uneasy but at least it was only September.

She was also uneasy for another reason. She glanced over to her closet and let out a massive sigh. She winced at the thought of what she was supposed to wear today, but..she really didn't have a choice. It was her own fault anyways.

Unwillingly, as she put on her glasses she walked over to her closet and took out all the articles of clothing she planned to wear today. Her school was pretty relaxed in regards to things like uniforms. Of course, you had to wear it, but if you wanted to pair a cardigan, or wear the summer uniform during winter, or vice-versa, it was ok. But for some reason, the third years always got a little more leeway when it came to this uniform affair.

Hesitantly, Renge took out a red and black sweater-vest, along with a raspberry coloured tie. She reached for a pair of maroon coloured boots residing in the corner of her closet and placed them in front of her door so she wouldn't forget to take them on her way downstairs. Next, she slid a lacy choker over her head and adjusted it so it felt comfortable. Finally, the best part came. She looked at her reflection in her closet mirror and parted her ebony and salmon-at-the-ends hair. Wounding them up into twin tails, she then twisted them into buns and used this method she found from an internet tutorial to spike them up a bit. She groaned as she placed a dark pink and silver bow on each bun and felt herself growing even more hesitant to step outside of her room.

Eventually, she walked out of her room and went downstairs, her boots in her hand.

"Good morning, Reng-" Her mother took a pause as she gawked at her daughter.

"You look very nice today." She said in a tone that actually sounded genuine. Renge raised her eyebrows at this response. So, she actually dresses like a complete punk and she gets a 'you look very nice' but the second she put on two rings, she gets called a punk then? Her mother was wired in ways that Renge couldn't even begin to comprehend.

"Hikaru! You need to get up, you can't be late on your first day!" Renge's mother shouted. Her mother then received a loud grunt that came from upstairs and her mother simply sighed in response.

"I knew he couldn't get up at this hour." Renge's mother moaned," Do you think you can get him out of bed?"

Renge shrugged but before she could do anything more, Hikaru was already downstairs.

"Honestly, your first day of high-school and you treat this morning like any other average morning?" Their mother scolded as Hikaru came into the kitchen,"Renge, make sure he doesn't get lost."

"Bleh." She blew a raspberry to him as he stared down into his toast.

"Renge, sit down and have breakfast ok?" Renge's mother instructed, pointing with her chin to a waffle on the kitchen.

After breakfast, the two took the bus to school, a ride that only took twenty minutes but included a transfer of buses four stops into the first one. It wasn't like taking the first bus was even all that necessary, but..walking ten minutes to a bus stop didn't sound so thrilling at this hour in the day for the two of them.

"Now, have you memorized your timetable?" Renge asked her brother as she began to walk ahead.

"No?" Her brother responded, sounding rather confused,"What kind of freak does that?"

Renge stopped in her tracks and looked him dead in the eyes," I did on my first day."

"I don't see why you need to memorize it when it's right here." Hikaru stated as he held his timetable in his hands.

"You know what? Never mind. Just be positive and make friends." Renge advised. Suddenly, a group of what seemed to be first year boys walked past them. Renge didn't really notice them, meanwhile Hikaru's gaze was now fixated on them.

"Ok, bye." Hikaru said as he sped up and walked away from Renge.

"And text me if you get lost!" Renge called out. As she mentioned her phone, she then realized she hadn't turned it on all morning. She did just that immediately and checked to see if she had any new texts or emails. Her Aiphone was held within a Mellow Kitty case which was held within her hand. All she had was one email from the class president, Miki Maizawa.

"Good luck on your first day guys! Remember it's the first day of our last year!" The email read. It was sent to everyone in third year, an impressive feat that Renge deemed impossible and questionable.

"Is she stalking us online or something?" She questioned as she pushed her tongue against her cheek. She then turned off her phone and walked into the school. Many kids who appeared to be first years were unintentionally turning their gaze to Renge. This newfound spur of attention made her want to wince and rip off the sweater-vest and the buns. But, if she didn't acknowledge their stares, they'd think she was a confident senior, their ideal of a third year. So she did just that and she walked with a cold expression crafted onto her face along with graceful steps. Once she cleared the path that was once obscured by the group of first-years, she could hear them snickering at something, or rather, someone.

"Is she in our grade?" One girl asked.

"Well, she gives goth a whole new meaning.." Some boy from the group remarked with a chuckle.

"Guys, guys come on. She's an emo kid, nothing more to it." Another boy declared, causing the group to burst into laughter.

"Well, this is already starting out to be some day.." Renge said to herself with a very unimpressed voice. If her thoughts were any louder, she may not have heard the next comment regarding her outfit.

"She looks so cool!" She heard a girl whisper to the other girl beside her. Renge's head instantly shot up. Were they, talking about her? She spun around to confirm her guess and as she did, the two girls smiled and waved to her.

"I like your outfit!" One of the girls called out.

"Thanks..." Renge responded with a small wave back.

Maybe dressing like this wasn't all bad, but for now..dressing in a more normal matter would've been preferable. She entered her homeroom and when she looked at her classroom, she found a few very familiar faces and other faces that were, recognizable to say the least. There didn't appear to be any new students at all this year, and that did make some sense, since no one usually switches schools in their final year. On the chalkboard in front of the class, there was a seating arrangement drawn out. Renge was seated on the far right of the room, fourth column, third row. Not too bad of a spot, but then she noticed the desk beside her was empty. She looked over to check and see who was going to be seated next to her. When she did, she realized that desk was probably going to remain empty for the rest of class, maybe even for the next few days. She rolled her eyes at the thought and within a matter of time, class began.

"Hello students, some of you may know me as the teacher of 3-7; My name is Ms. Yamamoto and this is your final year of high school. That's right, after this..." The teacher began,"..the rest is all up to you!"

Her voice boomed within the classroom, and it was hard to tell what actually startled the students more; how loud she was or how painfully true her words were.

"You're all going to find and etch out your own paths after and during this year. You will all hopefully know where you'll let the rest of your life take you by the end of this year." Yamamoto lectured. The idea of life after high-school was something that Renge wasn't too fond of thinking about, but she knew this speech was going to come eventually.

"You'll all realize this world has countless opportunities, it's all just a matter of finding out which opportunities work best for you."

The idea of 'countless opportunities' was something that both intrigued and worried Renge. It was great to know after this year she would no longer have to be bound to high-school. So that meant, no more younger kids crowding her space, no more boundaries well, at least not as much. However, life was so simple right now, it was very much a stable lifestyle with her biggest worries involving, am I going to finish this project before the deadline? During summer, she spent a lot of time thinking about how simple high-school could really be at times. She also realized how much she was taking these fleeting days for granted. Her time was running out here, she knew that all too well so during the final week of summer, she promised herself that this would be her most successful school year, academically and socially. Because, in a year from now, she may not be able to enjoy life like she will now.

Just before homeroom had drawn out to an end, Yamamoto handed out slips of paper to each student regarding after-school clubs. She began to read out the paper with little interest, but after the first paragraph, she cut herself off and instructed the class to read the rest of it on their own if they really wanted to. She knew by now most of the students in her class had seen this paper already, maybe one too many times.

Renge glanced down at the sheet as she listened to a few students chat amongst themselves about the clubs. Without needing to think, Renge filled in the bubble beside the Art club and was now trying to think of a second club. Seinori had a few unique traits that made the school appear a little unusual compared to other schools in the district. Students were given the choice to have two clubs, alternating each day and some clubs actually required a second club for admission.

She zoned out as she glowered down to the sheet. Art club was one of the clubs that did require a second club for admission and now, she had to pick something to fill up the space. But of course, she had a few options in mind that she had taken a year ago. Maybe Graphics? No,it was a little too similar to Art, plus the class was usually filled with first-years. Perhaps Drama, yeah that seemed like a good enough fit; she needed a place once more to let go of her pent-up madness without seeming like an absolute freak. With a simple, nonchalant shrug, she filled in the bubble for Drama.

As soon as she completed filling out the sheet and signing her name on it, she handed to Ms. Yamamoto as she left the classroom.

"Now, let's what class I have now.." Renge thought aloud as she crowded by a swarm of first-years. She scanned through her memory as the rest of the students scrambled to their next class.

"Ah, that's right...I've got Gym." Renge said in an unearthly calm fashion.

The rest of the day was a very relaxed one for Renge but of course, their wasn't a single class that didn't involve drilling the idea of 'final year, make it count!' deep into every students' brain.

"I want you all living happy, healthy, active lives after this year you know!" Her Gym teacher reminded at the end of class.

"You know, everything that you're going to learn in this course is going to benefit you in the future. It really will, so..try not to fall asleep or fail?" The math teacher attempted to reason after a enormous textbook was handed out to each and every student.

"Remember guys, this class is going to be the practical foundation of your intellectual prowess for those of you thinking about University." The Literature teacher had said. It was during that class what really made Renge start thinking about the future in a somewhat abstractive way. There was so much time left, yet in the long run..more than seventy-five percent of her school life was over. Time really did slip through her fingers and she hadn't even realized it. It was like it was just yesterday when she was in middle-school, fretting over her final year and her next year in high-school. Thinking about all these time gone made her feel almost, regretful? But...that didn't seem right. Why would she feel this way when she had no way of preventing this? Time just went on, she told herself that. Sometimes too quickly, other times..not quick enough.

She began to hope this school was going to be the latter of the two so she could simply just indulge in these moments and wouldn't have to worry about what would come next. Thinking about the future when it was both so near and so far was...a thought that should've been reserved in her head mentally for when she was going to sleep. Or maybe, that wasn't the best idea, it could've stressed her out so badly that couldn't sleep! Maybe first thing in the morning instead, then she could channel some positivity into these thoughts and let it act as a motivator for her through-out the day. But to motivate her for what? To survive the rest of the school-year?

Renge was sitting on a bench on the front-lawn of the school, after-school clubs weren't going to start until tomorrow. Renge exasperated a hefty sigh; all these thoughts piling up in her head wasn't doing her any good. The harder she thought about it, the more anxious she felt.

It was only the first day, and it seemed becoming a third-year just about did her in.

"Excuse me, but would you know where the academic warriors of aptitude may be?" She heard a voice that sounded like it came from no where within the vicinity asked.

"Eh?" Was all Renge could manage.

"Oh, um..down here." The voice said, causing Renge to turn her direction towards where the voice came from. Looking up at her, perched of a broken twig lying on the grass, was a small orange bird with the sweetest hazel eyes Renge had ever seen.

"Hello, I'm Renny!" The bird chirped.

"Um...I..can't..I really can't believe this..." Renge trailed off, turning ghostly pale as she froze in position. That's it, she decided she was never going to think this hard again, otherwise who knows what else she'd start seeing?

Renny frowned a small frown, unsure of as to why Renge was acting like this. Then he remembered; this place may have shared a few qualities with Univer City nut it was most certainly _not_ Univer City.

"I am so sorry for freaking you out like this but don't panic! I'm actually here! I'm real and I've been sent from Univer Ci-"

"It's a demon bird!" Renge blurted out, hoping very desperately that no one was around to have heard her say that.

"Demon bird, really?" Renny said sounding slightly unimpressed," Anyways, I'd appreciate it very much if you'd hear me out."

"Absolutely not!" Renge blurted out again, clamping her mouth shut quickly after to avoid shouting any more.

"Why not?" Renny countered.

"Well..you're either a creature that just magically appeared from my imagination because I'm clearly thinking too hard right now. Or, you just a bird and I'm hearing voices." Renge defended, trying her hardest to sound like everything she was saying made perfect sense.

However, it made little-to-no sense for Renny. He simply looked at her with a concerned look on his face.

"Is there a reason as to why you're thinking so hard?" He simply asked.

Renge flinched for a moment. Would a voice in her head or a creature from her imagination ask something like that? Maybe, if they were really sharp, or if she was really sharp psychologically. But maybe that really wasn't the case. She checked the area once more to see if anyone was around. There was no signs of anybody.

Briskly, she took a deep breath and motioned the little bird to sit down beside her.

"My final year of high-school got me feeling things. Things I feel like I shouldn't be feeling right now." Renge confessed as an apprehensive look was engraved into her face.

"Like what?" Renny asked.

"Um...like anxious and extremely stressed out. And a week of school hasn't even passed yet."

"Maybe you should just try to relax for a bit and take time to think about these things. If you go at your own pace, you won't have to overwhelm yourself.." Renny suggested.

"My own pace huh..?" Renge repeated.

"Well, you heard me out..and now it's my turn to hear you out." Renge declared as she crossed her legs, waiting for the bird to begin. Renny looked to her, surprised and grateful that she was willing to listen to him, despite calling him a demon bird.

"Alright, well...I'm not from your planet, or realm.." Renny began, sounding a little hesitant, seeing if Renge was still going to be on board with him.

"That much seemed obvious." Renge deadpanned with a smirk," So if that's the case, where exactly _are_ you from?"

"I come from Univer City!" Renny squawked with sheer glee,"It's a very...scholarly place, and it is a very special place to me.."

Renny looked down for a moment, relishing in memories of the kingdom when everything was in order. He was thankful he didn't have to see his beloved homeland in shambles, but as this rate with the Book of Omnipotence missing, it was unfortunately a possibility.

"So how exactly it is scholarly?" Renge asked.

"Well, the realm is very much dedicated to education, we all cherish the gift that is knowledge." Renny explained with traces of pride in his voice.

"So, you all like..study all the time..?" Renge said, trying to piece together how Univer City functioned.  
"What? No, yes we're all big into studying but we don't spend our entire day doing it. We all believe that we have a calling and to achieve it, we need to do every possible to do so. It fuels the inner scholar." Renny explained.

"Ah, I..see." Renge said in an unsure manner.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the school, Hikaru had bursted out from the doors of the side exit just to get some fresh air and clear his very muddled mind. It was bad enough none of his friends were going to Seinori with him, but did his outdoor shoes have to get stolen from his locker too? Luckily, the teachers found the culprit; the culprit didn't exist, actually. Hikaru simply mistook one empty locker for his own, causing a big scene and some indecent attention. Barely a day in and high-school was already going awfully for him. It wasn't anything like middle-school was and he had to start from scratch, with no friends and barely any knowledge regarding high school.

He glanced over to the doors he just escaped from. He simply asked to get a drink of water but then, out of pure impulse, he dashed out of the school as if he possessed the intent to never return again. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Or he could just go back to middle school. If only he could, he thought. Suddenly, there was a vibration from his pants pocket.

He flipped out his phone to see who it was. He smiled a small smile reading the name that appeared on the lock screen of his phone. It was Keiji, his best friend from middle school. He unlocked the phone, reading the text that Keiji had sent.

 _"Can't make it after school today, sorry man. My club starts today."_

His hand started shaking violently, and he couldn't understand why. Keiji always did to him, despite being his best friend this always happened! And if he did decide to show up, it would be three or four hours later. Usually, he never got this worked up about it. So, why did it sting so much now?

"Oh, goodness gracious! Has somebody been drained of their motivation? Have you given up on something?" A feminine, unsettling voice asked from behind him.

Hikaru spun around, and came face to face a very strange looking being. It or, maybe she, had a slender figure and was sporting a turquoise asymmetrical dress with gold trimming. She also wore a bunch of wrist-watches down her arms, they all ticked very loudly too. But the most strangest thing about her was her face masked by what resembled a straight-up clock.

A little petrified in fear, Hikaru stammered out a sentence followed by an attempt to retreat,"I-I-I sh-should really head back to cl-class..."

The woman let out an enormous gasp as if _she_ was in fear,"You absolutely _can't!"_

"Wh-what? Why not?" Hikaru sputtered.

"Because, there's absolutely _no time!"_ She screamed and so, with a swift raise of the hand, she was able to knock Hikaru out cold. She then conjured up a metallic blue clock face and she pressed it again his chest. Then, with a flick of the clock hands, she opened a hole with a white light emitting from Hikaru's chest. She reached in and grabbed a small creature that looked somewhat human.

"So these are what the inner scholar's look like..." The woman said in complete amusement and bewilderment as the creature thrashed between her fingers,"Now then..."

She grasped Hikaru's phone through some form of telepathy, conjured up a pair of what appeared to be hands from a clock and shouted the words," Run amok, Delinquous!"

Hikaru's phone grew in size at an instantaneous rate and it became animate, the pair of clock-hands spinning wildly from the back of it.

"Delinquous!" The beastly phone roared.

As Renge and Renny were chatting, they heard the cries from the Delinquous. Renge was confused, meanwhile Renny was remained perched on the bench, frozen with downright fear.

"Renny, do you know what that was?" Renge asked calmly, hints of fear were creeping up into her voice.

"The first attack, Temptasia has attacked." Renny trailed off desolately.

Now it seemed evident that Renny didn't tell the entirety of his tale. Come to think of it, he didn't even tell Renge why he was here!

"I'm sorry, attack? As in...?" Renge trailed off in hopes Renny would continue for her.

"Follow me!" Renny chirped as he flew off a few feet above from where he was sitting.

"Ok, but first could you tell me where we're going?" Renge called out to the bird in aviation.

"Just follow along!"

Renny and Renge stopped running when they found Hikaru's monster phone pillaging the court-yard of the school.

Renge was already in absolute terror, but to make things worse, Hikaru's was unconscious right in front of her.

"Hikaru!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. She shook him intensely in hopes of awaking him, but with no avail.

"I'm afraid he can't wake up, his time is, up unfortunately." A voice crooned from above them. It was the woman who took Hikaru's Inner Scholar and created the Delinquous. Renge took a step back and blinked rapidly, hoping the woman, or figure she just saw didn't actually look like what she thought it did.

"Where's Temptasia?!" Renny shouted up to the woman.

"She said she couldn't make it, and that she wasn't going to waste her time here while she needs to search for the book. Such a shame took because not only is it super easy..." The woman thought aloud.

"...It's hours of fun!" She cheered as the Delinquous ripped down a tree.

"Renny, do something!" Renge shouted as the two of ducked while the Delinquous swung around the tree. Clearly he had something to do with this, so why was he just standing, er hovering around?!

"I can't! My job was to find the ones who could stop these creatures and this person and Temptasia. Not fight myself!" Renny yelled as the two ducked once more. Come to think of he it, he did mention some academic warriors of aptitude.

"So where are those academic aptitude warriors you were talking about?!" Renge shouted as the Delinquous tried to grab Renge and Renny.

"I don't know! I wasn't given any form of directions as to where they may be!" Renny cried out in defense. Renge stopped dodging the swings from the Delinquous for one moment to look Renny in the eye.

"Are you kidding me? You've been sent to a whole other realm to find some warriors and you don't even know where or who they could be?" Renge said with her voice full of both disgust and doubt.

"Don't judge me!" Renny squawked as he proceeded to dodge the blows from the Delinquous.

The woman rested her head on her fist and let out a sigh," Delinquous, let's get out of here. I may as well be eating one of my watches because this heist is consuming more time than needed! Besides, we need to make you stronger, considering you were probably made from the weakest Inner Scholar on this side of the universe." The woman lamented. Renge then glared up to the woman, her blood boiling as her eyes made the woman.

"I know you aren't talking about my brother like that." Renge said between clenched teeth.

"Was I being too specific? I suppose so. Considering the fact that Temptasia said something about all humans being easy to manipulate and powerless. So you think this job would be easy, but it really isn't when I'm getting stalled by a girl and her pet bird!" The woman yelled in tone that sounded both frustrated and fretful.

Renge shook her head, not liking what she was hearing at all," I don't know who the hell this Temptasia person is..but whoever they are have a pretty inaccurate and twisted view of humans.."

"I'm not sure...it seems kind of right. I mean just look at this kid." The woman said as she pointed to the unconscious Hikaru.

"If I can do this to a teenaged boy in a matter of seconds, this of all the other worthless humans I preform this on.." The woman said," Plus, there's no one to stop me.."

"What are you talking about?" Renge asked in a most bitter tone asked she looked down," Humans are such a powerful specimen. There so capable and so diverse, there's more potential in us than in any other kind. So..please.."

"...Don't you dare to talk us down!" Renge shouted passionately.

Suddenly, a flash of red and pink lights flourished around Renge and blinded everyone within the vicinity.

Renge, encased in the lights, found a pen within her hand and instinctively cried out,

"Pretty Cure, study session!"

Within the lights, Renge twirled around and her uniform was replaced with a red and pink dress that featured cap sleeves and three bows down the center of the top area. The skirt was frilly and decorated with hearts. Her outfit actually looked somewhat like a school uniform but with a whole lot more personality. Behind her a giant bow appeared around her waist. Her glasses then disappeared and her eyes flickered from brown to carnation pink. Her hair then spun around and changed from black to salmon pink. And as she clicked her heels and tapped her wrists together, a pair of mahogany shoes and glovelets appeared on her feet and hands, respectively. And lastly, a golden headband materialized onto her forehead.

She jumped backwards and struck a pose," The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!"

* * *

 _Cover image drawn by Deency on Deviantart_


	2. So lemme get this straight

"Renge, she's a Pretty Cure!" Renny tweeted with utter joy.

"I...what..what just happened?" Literature asked languidly as she stared down at her hands. She grabbed locks of her hair and witnessed how pink and silky it became.

"What's going on?" She asked quietly.

"Renge, you're one the academic warriors of aptitude, you're a Pretty Cure!" Renny cried.

"A Pretty..Cure?" Literature repeated in bewilderment. She looked down at her body, admiring the dress that her school uniform was switched out for. It was, tremendous, beautiful even. All red and pink and covered with hearts, she'd never seen herself in such an outfit. She then looked at the Delinquous in front of her, the monster glowering down to her as it anticipated her next move. She gripped her hands into fists. Was she going to be able to help Renny now? Not that she was intending to originally, but with this transformation, it appeared she had just volunteered herself as tribute.

"So, just so we're clear..I am one of those aptitude warriors, right?" Literature asked Renny. The orange bird nodded his head vigorously. She then took a deep breath and attempted to let her 'instincts take over' or whatever magical girls did when they became skilled fighters out of nowhere. She ran up to the Delinquous and drove a kick into it swiftly as if to try and knock it off it's feet. But it didn't work. The Delinquous then swung a claw down to Cure Literature and testing the waters of her newfound powers, she darted up high into the air. She half-expected she would've been able to reach greater heights (literally) with these powers, but what she didn't expect was for this ability to quickly put her at a disadvantage. As she was in mid-air, admiring the view that her feet took her to, she failed to notice the Delinquous reaching out to grab her with it's humongous hands.

The Delinquous caught her with ease and before she knew it, she was dangling upside down, forty feet in the air. It was then that the wonder of this fantasy was torn apart by this harsh, unforgiving reality. Literature turned pale with total fear and then shortly realized this really wasn't a game, far from it. From the grasp of the Delinquous, she found her trying to break free from it's grip while screaming at Renny.

"Renny, do something!" she wailed, flailing around in the Delinquous' grip. She beat her fists against the hand of the Delinquous but it appeared to be completely unaffected by her attacks. She was running out of breath and patience fast, she felt her heart beat quicker with each and every second pass. Renny looked up at his newly discovered heroine with a look of dismay on his face.

"There's not much I can do!" Renny called out to her as he watched the red Cure thrash about within the grip of the Delinquous' grip. This battle was cringe-worthy for his side; were the Pretty Cure supposed to be _this_ weak? He really hoped not. His best hope was that this was only her first day on the job, so of course she probably wouldn't be that..adept on the first try.

Literature decided that she had done enough to try and break free from his grasp by this kind of force, so there was only one thing left she could do right now. Shutting her eyes as tight as possible, she bit into the thumb of the Delinquous as hard as she could and after a few moments, a great pain shot through the Delinquous, causing it to flinch and thrust Literature out of it's grip.

"Yes!" She cheered before she realized how high up in the air she was. Once she looked down, she immediately began to panic.

"Oh god, alright..if I don't land this I may as well be a stain on the ground. Great.." She said to herself as she began to free fall. She somehow landed in perfect condition and returned to her biggest issue at the moment: the Delinquous. It stood there patiently waiting for her next move. She then darted her eyes, for a just a moment, to the woman. Her appearance was just so odd, but obviously she knew how this beast functioned. She wondered if she had to wear it down before it became weak enough for her to seal it or whatever it was that magical girls did or if their was a weak point that would obliterate the Delinquous without her having to work so hard.

It was a risky move, but Literature decided to run around to the Delinquous' back and try to attack it from there. Just as she hoped, the Delinquous was slow when it came to turning so when it turn around fully to see what Literature was doing, it was too late. It received another kick, this one to the face and after being knocked a few feet backwards, it was attacked once more by the red Cure.

"Pretty Cure...Poetic Jurisdiction!" Literature cried out as she launched out an army of writing quills towards the Delinquous. The Delinquous was pinned against the ground by the quills, giving her the chance to purify it.

After a few moments, Renny prompted her to do so as he asked," Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Uh, I don't know?" Literature responded sheepishly. Unsure of what to do, she simply closed her eyes and waited for those instincts to kick in again. After she opened them against, she shouted aloud.

"Pretty Cure, Language of Justice!"

The atmosphere of around looked as if it came from a fairy tale oasis. Everything was a muted red tone and Literature felt more powerful here. From her hands sparked out a flashing red light and soon she noticed the Delinquous was now standing on a book. She then clasped her hands together and turned them so they were held into each other which cause the book under the Delinquous to engulf the monster and restore the Inner Scholar from Hikaru. From Literature's eyes, it looked light an orange glowing little ball. It made it's way back to Hikaru and the atmosphere returned the regular school yard.

"I'll get you next time" The woman said, this time sounding not as fretful as before but rather, more nonchalant," Oh and before I forget..I go by Jika."

And with that, she instantly dematerialized and disappeared. Literature double-blinked in astonishment and looked down to her brother. He was still out-cold but, he seemed less dead. Renny showed Literature how to detransform and she sat on the grass cross-legged, waiting for her brother to come to. When he did, he slowly rose up and looked around to see where he was, his memory now containing a gap for reasons he couldn't explain but Renge knew all too well.

"Whoa, when did you get here? And how long have you been watching me?" Hikaru asked, jumping a little when he noticed Renge seated beside him.

"It's only been five minutes relax," She lied with a snarky tone," A friend got locked out and texted me to open the school door for her. And then I saw you passed out here."

"So then why didn't you wake me up?" Her brother questioned, sounding a tad skeptic of his sister and her reply.

"You seemed so at peace, and I remember mom said you seemed to have been having major issues sleeping within the last few weeks." Renge explained.

"Oh, well...don't tell mom about this ok?" Hikaru requested as he slowly stood up, Renge still seated on the grass.

"I won't if you won't." Renge responded casually as he walked back into the school.

"Alrighty then my little feathered friend..." Renge said once Hikaru was out of earshot to Renny, who was hiding behind a nearby tree,"...Now's your chance to explain everything."

"Everything?" Renny repeated.

" _Everything."_

Renny then begged Renge to let him disclose all of his secrets and confidential things regarding the Pretty Cure in some secluded area where there wasn't going to be anyone nearby and they wouldn't have to worry about having someone find out anything. Reluctantly, after school Renge dragged the little bird into her room and the two sat waiting for him to begin his explanation, or at least, make his original explanation a little better. After composing himself, he began.

"So..as you can see, I'm here on a mission." Renny informed. Renge simply nodded and waited for him to continue.

"My home is in grave danger, we've lost something very important to our home." He explained.

"What is this very important something?" Renge unconsciously interrupted.

"The book of Omnipotence." The orange bird debriefed," It's an extremely sacred book that holds all the facts and knowledge of the world and it knows all that once was and all that will be."

"You know that sounds pretty vague right?" Renge pointed out candidly.

"Think of it as..the biggest textbook known to mankind, yet unheard of in this realm..make any sense now?" Renny asked.

"I guess..." Renge mumbled,"...But what about that tiny thing that came out from my brother and turned into that Delinquous?"

"That was an Inner Scholar." Renny replied.

"The Inner what?"

"The Inner Scholar is like, the physical manifestation of motivation within you. Well, actually, there the ones who provide motivation within you. You know when you have a major project due in two days and it's half-way done and you want to quit, but you don't? Well, you can thank your Inner Scholar for that."

This all started to sound slightly fishy for Renge and she said,"You know, not all people here are willing to push through major projects around here right? Everyone kinda just throws in the towel by the third day."

"To each their own." Renny simply answered," The Inner Scholar doesn't only channel motivation for academic studies, but often things that the owner is passionate about."

"So what exactly happened back there with my brother's Inner Scholar?" Renge asked.

"It was corrupted by failure, not to say failure is a bad thing it's just..sometimes we take it too hard..and then our Inner Scholar suffers from it." Renny explained," When corrupted, we lose motivation and we just begin to decompose from the inside out."

"Well, that doesn't sounds too good.." Renge said, sounding unintentionally uninterested when it truth, the matter was much more concerning than she expected.

"It's really not.." Renny agreed with a single nod," That's where you come in. As Cure Literature, you have the power to reverse the corruption of all the Inner Scholars, and you can help us find the Book of Omnipotence!"

"Wait, you did mention this was a really sacred book..." Renge began,"...If that's the case, then how could you guys lose it? Don't tell me that Jika clock girl and her side has it.."

"No thankfully, they wouldn't be causing all this mayhem if they did. And, it's not like they can use it anyways.." Renny responded, feeling a little better once he mentioned this fact but at the same time, still slightly tense.

"The book blinked itself out of Univer Kingdom when it sensed it was in danger and now, nobody knows where the book is..." Renny explained,"..So we're basically racing against each other to see who can get the book first. As long as we get the book first, we can avoid as little destruction as possible..but we don't even know where to start looking.."

"Didn't you say they couldn't use the book?" Renge rectified.

"Right, well...no one can use the book. Not even the Headmistress.." Renny answered abruptly,"..The only one who ever could read it is the most powerful Inner Scholar of all, Acumen. It's lived and been reborn countless times into random people at will. Right now, we don't who the current owner of Acumen is, but in my opinion..we should be on the look out for Acumen as well."

"So, if the book fall into the bad guys' hands..just what is going to happen?" Renge then asked.

Renny looked down and out a small frustrated sigh," Honestly, I couldn't even tell you. And that's what worries me the most."

"Well, I've made my decision." Renge stood up suddenly and clapped her hands together. Renny then looked up expectantly and he waited for Renge to announce her decision.

"I really can't do this!" She acclaimed, causing Renny to flinch and his mouth to hang wide open. Renny began to panic again, which was in all actuality something he wasn't very prone to doing up until coming to this realm.

"B-b-b-but..why?!" Renny stammered as he held his head with his wings, looking up to Renge with apprehensive eyes.

She exhaled and threw a half-smirk onto her face," I have my own life to live. And, this year is my last year in high-school, and I'm not too keen on throwing it all away on childish affairs."

"What are you talking about, childish affairs?" Renny questioned dumbfounded with a little scoff.

"I don't think I'm in any place right now to be attempting to help save first-years from inner corruption, let alone risk my life for them." Renge explained in tone that used to make herself sound mature, when in reality, coupled with her response, made her sound like an absolute fool to Renny.

Renny exclaimed in a panicked tone,"It's not just first years at ris-!"

The two stopped their dispute right in their tracks when Renge's brother Hikaru walked in on them. The first year walked in to see Renge standing in front of Renny unseen to him with a cheesy, forced smile on Renge's face.

"Can I help you..?" Renge said, the cheesy smile still plastered onto her face as she began to feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

"I need to borrow your pencil crayons..." Hikaru said, somewhat uncomfortable with Renge's seemingly eternal smile.

"Oh, yeah sure, alright!" Renge sputtered as she cautiously took out her pencil crayon box for her brother while Renny hid under her blanket.

"Drive safe now!" She babbled as she slammed the door on Hikaru once he left.

"How about this.." Renge offered in a calmer, gentle tone," I can take you to the library and help you look for the book of Omnipotence. And maybe there you can find your new Pretty Cure there."

"But I don't want find a new-"

"Deal?" Renge interrupted hastily.

Renny stared at her for a long time before reaching his decision," Deal."

And so, the two walked, well Renge walked with Renny in her bag, to the local library. It was strange, her regular library was in the opposite direction of the school, but it didn't seem to be a problem for Renge, as it was a walking distance and it was a nostalgic place for her. The walk only lasted for about seven minutes, and soon they were there.

The library was just like any average library. Filled with aisles upon aisles of books, ranging from children's fiction to young adult along with genres like mystery and fantasy. The library was mostly populated with small children who all seemed to be about seven or eight, which Renge deemed sensible as their was an elementary school nearby. Aside from the elementary kids, the library seemed pretty sparse of people. And anyone who was there that was over the age of nine was just using a computer.

Renge was surprised; the last time she came here, there was a few more people here. Not a major crowd of course, but just enough to make it feel somewhat homely.

"It's like everything and nothing has changed," Renge said astounded with a hint of nostalgia in her tone.

"When was the last time you were in here?" Renny then asked.

"Probably middle school, actually maybe only two years ago. When my brother allegedly checked out a book and never returned it. But he claims he had never heard of the book in the first place!" Renge snickered.

"What book was it?" Renny questioned.

"Rice for the mice." Renge answered as she began to search for the book of Omnipotence in the encyclopedia section. The book were just about as heavy as an encyclopedia could be and they all appeared to be regular encyclopedias.

"I'm not sure if the book would be here.." Renny stated cautiously as Renge continued to search through the books,"..This is such an easy hiding place for a book like that."

"Have you ever heard of plain sight? The book would be stupid not to hide in here, since it'd probably camouflage so easily with the rest of the books." Renge declared, still searching for the book.

"I can't believe this!" The two suddenly heard a voice boom throughout the library. As if by ritual, the shout was followed by a few shushes and the voice was lowered to an angry whisper.

Renge then turned her attention to where the voice had came from. A tall, ordinary looking man with a rather angry look at his face was glowering down to a small, timid girl with burgundy hair that reached her shoulder blades and she wore glasses. Looking up to the man with a nervous looking eyes, the woman tightly gripped the sleeves of her chunky sweater, looking very ready to flee from the library.

"I-I-I-I'm sorry! Really, I didn't mean to!" The woman's voice cracked as she attempted to defend herself.

"You did all the pointless jobs first, making sure everything was perfect. But you forget the main thing." The man held out a large stack of flyers in her face.

"Please...just give me another chance, I can..I can fix this.." The woman said listlessly as if she couldn't even believe her own words.

"How many chances am I supposed to give you? Besides, I don't have the authority to keep you here, nor fire you.." The man groaned, his voice a little less harsh when he noticed her eyes looking glossy.

"Just try to do something about it." He said as he handed her the stack of flyers and headed off into a room that was closed off for visitors.

The woman calmly placed the flyers on a nearby table, sat down and held her head in her hands. Renge, struck with a new found concern for the woman, walked over to the her hoping that she could've been of some help.

"Um, are you..alright?" Renge asked the woman awkwardly.

"Me?" The woman asked, drying her eyes as she took off her glasses," Well, let's just say I've had better days. But, even I'll admit, I must look very unprofessional like this." She tried straightening herself up for Renge and looked her in the eye.

"So, what exactly happened between you and Mr. Stick in the mud over there?" Renge asked in the same stiff, uneasy tone. Renny seemed puzzled as to why Renge was acting like this, but figured he'd asked later as he was currently incognito.

The woman chuckled softly at Renge before answering," Well, the library was having a small little festival this weekend to celebrate twenty years of being here. But it seemed like a futile attempt to draw a crowd in, which it is, but me and a few coworkers here decided to liven things up a bit. We wanted it to feel like a real festival, have old picture books from the nineties on display and maybe even for sale, we somehow managed to get Izuri Maeda to come in for a book signing."

"Wait, isn't that the guy who wrote all those kids books? Like, The Club for Misfits? The Ice-cream Castle? And who could forget I'll always be here whenever you need me?" Renge listed enthusiastically.

The woman giggled again," Yeah, same guy..only thing is, I never got around to handing out those flyers. And now, if these don't get posted around the neighbourhood on time, the turn out we were originally expecting may not even show up. And it won't anyone's fault but my own..."

"That's it? I got you covered," Renge reassured as she took half the stack of flyers from the woman," Oh by the way, I'm assuming you have a name so..."

"Ah, I'm Shiori." The woman beamed as she rose up from her seat.

"I'm Renge," Renge introduced as the two of them began to walk out of the library. The stack of papers was getting a little heavy for Renge but she inevitably toughed it out for Shiori's sake. During the next two hours, Renge and Shiori hung flyers on every empty post and wall they could find. Renge taped some against some nearby bus shelters while Shiori tried getting the permission of some stores to put it up on their bulletin board, with much avail. Between the two of them, they were able to put up at least half of each of their stacks up. All that was left was the last half of flyers between the two of them.

"Well, if we could pull off pasting up half the flyers in only a few hours, then we should be finished in no time!" Renge exclaimed, heaving out a few breaths from exhaustion.

"I hope so..." Shiori panted, sitting down on a bench as she wiped beads of sweat from her forehead.

Just then, a piercing cold breeze came from what felt like nowhere and swooped up the remainder of flyers that had been laying on the bench with Shiori. Once the papers flew off the bench, Shiori began to run after the stack madly. Renge followed along and watched all the papers fly out in separate directions.

"No! Come back!" Shiori cried out as she ran in the direction where the majority of flyers flew to. Once she was close enough, she managed to grab a few strays but the rest however met their timely fate within a large puddle. Shiori stared down at the puddle, eyes wide open with her hands held over her mouth in fear and the few flyers she managed to save cradled in her arms.

"The...the flyers..." Shiori croaked out as she stared at the damp flyers within the puddle. They weren't very sightly at this point; the paper was so soaked that trying to scoop it out from the puddle seemed too difficult and all the writing had been blurred out and made illegible.

"How could this happen?" Shiori said, sounding as if she was about to cry again.

"It's ok. I mean every happens for a reason, like what if this is the universe's way of telling us we had more than enough papers put up around the neighbourhood..?" Renge suggested.

"Maybe, you're right. Maybe it is a sign from the universe..." Shiori softly said sounding a lot more detached.

"A sign that I can't avoid failure!" Shiori bawled hysterically.

"What? No! That's just downright ridiculous!" Renge declared, accidently raising her voice.

"For so many years I've been wanting to work here at this very library. But, this isn't anything like what I was expecting it to be! All my colleagues are total jerks, I can't do any task right and to top it all off, this place doesn't feel like the library I grew up aspiring to work at..." Shiori sobbed.

"Huh?" Was all Renge could manage.

"Oh dear, aren't we quite the mess?" Renge heard a voice remark. She spun her head towards the direction of where the voice came from. She initially thought it was that woman Jika, but this voice sounded richer, more mature and much less panicked.

"Who's there?!" Renge shouted as Shiori continued to cry into her lap. In front of her, a woman wearing an intricate grey Victorian styled dress adorned with violets with a bonnet that held her brown hair materialized from seemingly nowhere.

"Good afternoon my dear.." The woman said as she grew closer to the girls.

"Don't tell me...you're a friend of the clock-girl right?" Renge hissed as the woman took a few more steps towards them. One thing Renge took notice of while the woman was walking was that she hadn't opened her eyes once. It was very odd and while this woman appeared to be the enemy, Renge so desperately wanted to ask her how she was able to walk towards her so confidently without needing to open her eyes.

"Jika? I don't know..friend is a rather strong word for my ears. I'd much rather call her an associate.." The woman said, enclosing Shiori in a wall of thorns and throwing Renge off to the side.

"Shiori!" Renge screamed in terror as she watched the woman conjured up a mirror and plucked out Shiori's inner scholar.

"What are you doing? Please..please stop!" Shiori cried just before she was knocked unconscious, the excruciating anguish quickly transformed into a ceaseless, dull pain. The tiny lilac coloured Inner Scholar that belonged to Shiori was staring wide-eyed at the woman in complete fear. Renge rushed to get back onto her feet and searched her bag vigorously for her transformation device.

"You're going to make a fine Delinquous, I'm sure of it..." The woman commented as she held one of the damp flyers between her fingers. The damp flyer became gigantic in size and came to life.

"Delinquous!" The monstrous flyer screamed out in the open. Renge looked around, noticing that were located at the back of the library, which was somewhat convenient for the occasion, at least she could transform now without having to worry about somebody seeing her.

Cautiously, Renge drew out her Fountain Pen of Knowledge.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" Renge shouted as she transformed, the flickering lights from the transformation forcing everyone within the vicinity to close their eyes.

"So, this is the Pretty Cure girl..." The woman noted softly as one of her eyes opened a little.

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" She introduced as she struck a pose. Literature looked up to the Delinquous and felt a wave of anger come over her. These denizens of Temptasia sure knew how to time their attacks or they were just keen on striking whenever an associate of Renge was in a bind. After a few moments of this staring contest, the Delinquous then let out a deafening screech and suddenly, it began to rain.

"No way..." Literature stared in disbelief as she watched the rain pool into her cupped hands,"..How did it do that?"

"Who do you think you're messing with?" The woman scoffed," Delinquous, go!"

The Delinquous charged after Cure Literature at full speed, and Literature decided to run away out of pure impulse. Though her eyes were still closed, the woman laughed as Literature ran away from the Delinquous. As Literature stomped through the newly-formed puddles, she tried to at least formulate some form of plan before she would take the offensive side of this battle. Leaping up and hiding within a tree, Literature let out a sigh.

"And to think..we came here because we were trying to find a replacement for me.." She groaned, but not without taking a good look at the scenery below here. Everything was a lot smaller and even though it had only been her second time transforming, she had already gotten used to her superhuman abilities. All that was left her to get accustomed to was the adrenaline rushing through her veins every time she was faced against one of those unnerving Delinquouses. Maybe she could try attacking from the back again, but maybe not as this woman seemed somewhat more observant of this battle even though her eyes had been shut the entire time. But something about her was so unsettling, like she just knew exactly what was happening and she didn't even need to see, as if her other senses were so developed, sight was just inessential.

The Delinquous began to claw at the tree and the woman simply 'looked' up towards the tree with an unimpressed look carved into her face. Looking at her made Literature feel tense, so she simply tried to focus on the problem at hand the Delinquous. An idea then came to her as if out of thin air.

"Pretty Cure, Poetic...Jurisdiction!" Literature cried as she slammed a hoard of quills into the Delinquous and jumped out from the tree. She pinned him against the ground but this time, the Delinquous managed to break free.

"I thought it couldn't do that!" Literature interjected nervously as she took a few cautious steps back. As the Delinquous slowly got up, Literature began to shake and fidget uncontrollably.

"Renny, what am I supposed to do?!" She cried impatiently as she looked for the bird who suddenly didn't appear to be in her bag. She was shaking so much, she couldn't tell whether or not the origin of it was solely from the fear circulating her body or if it was a mix of fear and how cold she was getting in this frigid weather.

"Fight back!" Renny squawked, atop of a branch perched on a tree. Literature's patience was running thin with both this Delinquous and with Renny. And all this pent-up frustration was beginning to get to her.

"Alright, I don't know how you were able to take away Shiori's inner scholar but I know damn well that it wasn't right of you!" Literature ranted with much irritation. The woman seemed to be both slightly intrigued and taken aback with Literature's outburst.

"Why is that?" The woman crooned as Literature attempted to fight back the Delinquous whilst lecturing.

"Because, she was the rightful owner of that Inner Scholar and just because she failed at a task doesn't make her eligible for your monster-of-the-day." Literature continued," Actually, make that _monsters._ "

"But she was draining herself of all her motivation on her own, you were there. Isn't that just a pathetic thing to watch?" The woman pointed out.

"After that incident, even I could tell she had been struggling with this issue for awhile. But you know what? It's ok that she messed up a few times, how else is she supposed progress and get better? She's only human and besides...her failures aren't what define her!"

Literature was then filled power she couldn't begin to put into words and dashed to the Delinquous at full-throttle. She put up a better fight than before and even the Delinquous could be seen getting tired out from trying to match the speed Literature was going at. So many punches were thrown, and Renny was regaining hope in Literature as he watched continue to fight. Maybe she was getting better. Before the final punch was delivered, the Delinquous tried once last time to knock Literature off her feet. Meanwhile, Literature was too overwhelmed with all this power surging through her to feel threatened by this Delinquous now.

She clenched her hand into a fist and watched the Delinquous race towards her head on.

"You know what? I think..." Literature said in an unusually level-headed tone as she watched the Delinquous run. She smirked as her fist connected with the body of the Delinquous.

"...I've had enough of this!" She threw the Delinquous against the outside wall of the library, silently hoping she hadn't caused too much, if any, damage. The Delinquous was down for the count and finally, Cure Literature had her chance to purify it.

"Pretty Cure..Language of Justice!" She cried as the atmosphere turned into that muted shade of red in mid-sentence.

Once the Delinquous was purified, Shiori's Inner Scholar returned to her body and then rain finally cleared up. But, just before the woman left, she heard Literature say.

"But it's just not fair.." She spat out.

"Now what it is, my dear?" The woman asked in an impatiently flat tone.

"You know my name...but I don't know yours!" Literature shrieked, startling and surprising both the woman and Renny.

"Zephora." The woman smirked as she disappeared.

When Zephora disappeared, Renge hurried to Shiori's side and waited for the woman to wake up, which actually took longer than expected. After what felt like an eternity and a half to Renge, Shiori finally woke up.

"I...don't...I don't remember a thing. Just what happened?" Shiori said groggily as she held her head with one hand in confusion.

"Well, it started raining and as we were running inside, you sorta tripped and felt against the concrete. Don't you remember?" Renge lied as Shiori tried to piece together this gap in her memory.

"Guess not.." She admitted as she stood up slowly,"..The last thing I remember is the flyers getting soaked."

"You know, we can always make more.."Renge suggested.

"Yeah, we probably could. It's only Wednesday anways too. There's plenty of time before our little festival." Shiori said, sounding much more composed than before," I didn't mean to freak out like that back there, it's just...I've been over thinking things a lot lately and I know it isn't good, but I just can't help it."

"It's ok if you have these issues and while I know you can't stop the whole over thinking ordeal, maybe you find something else to take up your thoughts, like the positive things," Renge suggested.

"It's just been so hard to focus on the positive this entire time, I'll admit. It feels almost like it's not even there sometimes." Shiori confessed.

"Well, start out small. You went to work anyways, despite the fact that well..it's work." Renge pointed out, causing Shiori to giggle.

"And, you set up all that other stuff for the festival. That's pretty productive~!" Renge added," And you were able to pin up all those flyers in almost no time!"

"Yeah, you're right!" Shiori agreed,"Maybe I actually am doing a better job than I thought I was.."

"See, things aren't as stressful when you focus on the positive!" Renge cheered.

"Yeah, well.. I'm going to try and print out a few more flyers and pin them up before sunset, are you going to come?" Shiori asked.

Renge was in fact still sitting on the pavement the entire time, she looked extremely exhausted to Shiori, making the woman feel bad for asking Renge to do more work. But thankfully, Renge declined her offer.

"I think I'll just sit here for a few more minutes, but good luck with those flyers!" Renge called out as Shiori went back into the library. Shiori waved and as soon as she was out of eyesight, Renge tried very cautiously to get up. Trying to get up slowly was mildly painful for Renge apparently, as she winced and gritted her teeth. She then chose to stand up quickly and that resulted in her dropping back down against the pavement, unconscious.

"Renge?" Renny asked quietly as he looked down to the fainted girl.

Renge awoke in her bedroom, having little to no clue as to what was going on and was underneath a single blanket. She shot up quickly and looked at her clock atop of her side table.

"8:00?! Of what day? Of what, dare I say, month?!" She shrieked as she held the clock within her hands.

Renny then came to her side to give her an answer," It's only been two hours, you're fine. Besides, the sun's still up too, surprisingly."

Renge eyed the orange bird, his last comment seemed a little irrelevant to her, but then another thought came to her.  
"But how did I get into my room?" She interrogated the little bird, who was now avoiding eye-contact.

"A mystery, I guess.." Renny shrugged, acting as if he knew nothing regarding this mystery.

Renge really didn't like the sound of that, but feeling as if she had enough excitement for the day, she decided to drop the topic.

"Then...how did I faint?" Renge asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"Well, I guess it was because of the fact that you purified a Delinquous twice in one day." He deadpanned, something Renge never expected him to do as he seemed to be typically mellow, aside from his previous meltdown from a couple of hours ago.

"So, am I only allowed to one purification a day?" Renge asked.

"No...but, then again, it also was your first time purifying a Delinquous today.." Renny pointed out. Renge nodded since the bird's explanation made some sense to her. She then felt a sharp chill run down her spine, and her arms were then coated with goose bumps. She looked towards her window, to see if it was open but to her horror, the window was more than open.

The mesh on her window was left ajar.

"Oh dear..." Renge trailed off as she stared into the window's view.

"What?" Renny said as he looked through the window with her.

"Give it a few moments and..." Renge said as if waiting for something majorly important while she shut her eyes.

Suddenly, a girl with white long hair and violet eyes wearing a turquoise hoodie over a purple tank top and grey capri shorts was standing on her window ledge.

" 'Sup?" The girl said as she nodded in Renge's direction.

"Good to see you, Kanari." Renge simply replied.


	3. Welcome back, Miss Hooky

Renny sat on Renge's bed, shocked as he watched the white-haired girl climb out from the window and into Renge's room. Just how on Earth was she able to do that? He then peered out into Renge's window from where he sat unnoticed by Kanari. It appeared Renge had a tree in her backyard that held a branch stretching out towards her bedroom. What were the odds of that. Once Kanari was fully inside Renge's bedroom, she dusted herself off and placed her hands on her hips, taking in the view.

"Wow, virtually nothing has changed in here since June!" She remarked, causing Renge to give her a suspicious look and make her wonder how she could remember what her room looked like so well. But then she remembered, it's not like Kanari had anything better to do during the month of June aside from helping Renge studying for finals and literally clean her room for her, unknown to Renge's mother.

"Wait, I don't remember these things though.." Kanari stated after she caught a glimpse of a small figure and Renge's Fountain pen of knowledge. To Renge's relief, Kanari seemed to be more interested in the figure rather than the pen. She examined the figure and picked it up, brushing a few particles of dust from it.

"Did you get this from the convention?" Kanari asked as she rotated it within her hands.

"Guilty," Renge responded uneasily. Renny managed to crawl under Renge's bed sheets yet again and listened to Kanari and Renge's conversation.

"You know, maybe you should probably head back to school now.." Renge suggested as Kanari placed the figure back on the desk. Kanari shrugged and then took a glance at Renge's calendar.

"Oh yeah, today was the first day huh?" Kanari asked nonchalantly as she sat on Renge's computer desk chair. Renge then appeared to be very irritated as she looked Kanari dead in the eyes.

"You know actually...I heard some kids in our say they think you've turned hikikomori." Renge confessed bluntly, which didn't necessarily faze the white haired girl, just confused her slightly. She narrowed her eyes upon hearing these.

"That's ridiculous, it's only the first day." Kanari pointed out as she rested her arm on the top of the chair, apparently having little interest in the topic of her fellow classmates and school in general. Renge seemed to have been expecting this kinda of response and responded with a shake of her head and a shrug.

"You weren't really there for June, or May too.." Renge pointed out in irritation that only sounded as if she had forsaken the idea of Kanari showing up to school at all,"..You're actually a pretty good student, I don't why you don't feel the need to go."

"Well, by May everyone feels like not showing up with summer break around the corner, so can you blame me?" Kanari countered which resulted in her receiving a simple eyebrow raise from Renge," And besides, just this morning I was struck with a deadly case of Senioritis!"

"I'm pretty sure you're only qualified for such a diagnosis if you actually went to school." Renge deadpanned impatiently.

"Every time I talk to you, you sound more and more like my mom Renge." Kanari pouted in a childish tone. Renge took a deep breath and composed herself before she said anything childish back to Kanari.

"Well, can you blame me?" Renge responded," I just think it'd be awesome if you were able to graduate with rest of us."

Kanari rolled her eyes," Like that's not going to happen. You know I show up enough so that I can pass. When it comes to grades, I don't fool around."

"But when it comes to attendance, you just don't seem to give a-"

" 'Cause I don't see the point in going when I already know everything!" Kanari exasperated,

"Come on, I know you know a lot about math and stuff, but you don't know _everything_." Renge reasoned. Kanari stood up, crossed her arms and looked away from Renge.

"Well, everything within reason." Kanari said contemptuously.

"What do you do during your free time anyways?" Renge then asked abruptly, which then made Kanari fall quiet.

"Things." She vaguely responded," Better question is, what are you doing having casual conversation with birds?" Kanari asked, which freaked out both Renge and Renny. Renny then emerged from out of the bed sheets and flew towards Kanari.

"Temptasia! Renge, it's Temptasia!" Renny shouted to Renge in Kanari's face, which freaked out both Kanari and Renge. Renge got up from her bed and scooped the bird into her arms and as far away from Kanari as possible. She wore a look on her face that she reserved for scolding Hikaru as she glowered down to the orange bird. Kanari simply watched the duo, feeling a mixture of both surprise and fear from that moment. A talking bird seemed pretty cool, that much she would admit but the fact that he yelled at her like that made her now a little weary of him.

"That wasn't nice! And would you please keep your voice down!" Renge chided as Renny remained stagnant in her arms.

"I don't, I-I, I mean, like I'm..pretty sure I'm not that Temptasia person..." Kanari said shakily as she hid behind the chair from Renny.

Renny looked at her with pity, knowing well that if she was Temptasia, she would've raised hell on him immediately after calling her out like that. Or, would she? But, Renny felt really bad for attacking Kanari like that after seeing that she was much more docile than he expected. He flew down and perched onto the top of the computer chair and looked down at Kanari.

"Sorry about that." Renny apologized in a regretful manner. Kanari looked at the bird with a sympathetic look in her eye and dropped her hand down onto the bird's head.

"It's alright," She replied softly, though appearing to still be a little on edge around the bird.

Renny felt a little relieved that Kanari was so quick to accept his apology," I guess it was just the fact that you sounded so vague about what you were doing with your free-time, couple with the fact that your hair's white and that you knew about me. Speaking of which, how did you-?"

"I guess you could say I was eavesdropping for a few minutes before I jumped in.." Kanari said sheepishly," So uh, how can you talk anyways..?"

Renge and Renny sat there, frozen with fear and unsure of exactly what they were supposed to tell Kanari. She knew too much as it was and now they couldn't even formulate a lie that plausible enough for Kanari to buy. Renny looked at Renge, waiting for a conclusion on what they were going to tell her. Renge sighed loudly and hesitantly gave the orange bird a slow nod.

"Kanari, a lot has happened today..." Renge confessed, as she began to reveal her newest biggest secret to Kanari. Renge explained to Kanari the entire Pretty Cure secret and of course, she had a little bit of help from Renny. As Kanari heard all of this, she simply nodded in understanding every time Renge said something that she wasn't sure Kanari wasn't going to be able to believe. She concluded her explanation briefly after a few minutes.

"So, I originally thought it was only first years who were at risk but it seems..." Renge trailed off uncertainly as she shifted her gaze to the ground.

"Everyone is at risk. I hate to admit it, really I do. But nobody is safe." Renny confessed.

"So, Renge has powers?" Kanari asked after a short period of complete silence. Slowly, Renge nodded. Technically, she did but she wasn't sure if those powers prevailed through into her 'civilian form'.

"Dude, that's so cool! So what else can you do besides purifying those Delinquouses?!" Kanari asked excitedly as she hopped up in front of Renge, beckoning the girl to respond.

"I'm not sure just yet.." Renge giggled awkwardly before realizing Kanari's attention was no longer on her. Kanari observed the pair of bows on Renge's side table, along with her the pieces of her uniform in a pile in front of the bed. Renge was currently wearing her casual clothes and opted out for more warmer and brighter colours, donning a striped orange and white skirt with a red and white shirt. Kanari picked up the uniform and took a better look at it, with the sweater vest in one hand and the tie in the other.

Kanari nodded in approval," Renge, I'm impressed. And just think.. you only have two more weeks left of this!"

Renge groaned while Renny sat there with his head tilted, puzzled.

Renny asked," What are you talking about?" Kanari returned her attention to the bird and cleared her throat to explain as she put a devious look on her face.

"The funniest thing happened this summer my avian friend..." Kanari chuckled maliciously. Renge facepalmed and said nothing while Renny urged her to continue, now very curious as just what happened this summer.

"So, my lovely friend Renge Kotori decided to make a bet with me in hopes of making me attend school on a regular basis.." Kanari began in a hauntingly alluring tone," The bet was that, whoever finished reading this book,"The plague that was romance" first got to make the loser do whatever she wanted. Renge thought she would win for sure, but..what she didn't realize was..."

"-I didn't pack it in my suitcase when I left!" Renge sobbed.

"Renge went on vacation the day after we made the bet and within three hours and twenty five minutes, I was already finished reading the book!" Kanari cackled in triumph.

"So that's why Renge dresses like that!" Renny realized with bewilderment. Renge and Kanari stared at the bird with a bit of confusion.

Renny then changed the subject abruptly,"You two seem to get along quite well."

Renge scoffed and Kanari snickered. Renge responded," Well, when you know someone for about fourteen years or so, you kinda get used to their shenanigans.."

"Wow, I didn't know you two were that close!" Renny marveled,"...Maybe she's going to be the next Pretty Cure!"

Renge stared at the bird wide-eyed and apprehensively while Kanari seemed almost, inspired by the idea.

"Birdy's got a point! What if I _am_ the next Pretty Cure?!" Kanari exclaimed as she jumped onto Renge's bed and began to make fighting stances.

Renge rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she watched Kanari make a fool of herself,"Come on, you don't even go to school. You couldn't be a Pretty Cure."

"I bet I could do!" Kanari shouted as she pretended to fire a missile at Renge, who flinched upon hearing that cursed word, the _b word,_ " And besides, I can go to school whenever I want to!"

"Then go tomorrow." Renge countered flatly in what almost sounded like an imperative tone.

"Absolutely not! I said when I want to..." Kanari responded as she plopped down onto Renge's bed.

"Then let's make a bet." Renge proposed, causing Kanari to roll her eyes. She knew she was going to win this one, but the question was..what were they going to bet this time?

"But, this be comes with a condition. You have to go to school tomorrow." Renge added as she lifted a finger up towards Kanari.

"So what's the bet?"

"If you are the next Pretty Cure, then you can make me do whatever you want. But if you aren't, you have to continue going to school and start attending on a regular basis." Renge explained.

Kanari seemed interested, and that much put Renge at ease for a little after making such a risky bet. Kanari stared at Renge for a long time, making her uncomfortable before reaching a decision.

"Alright, I'll do it. But I'll decide your punishment later.." Kanari stated deviously,"..But why do I need to go to school?"

"What if someone sent by Temptasia attacks again?" Renge asked, pretending to sound as innocent as possible.

Kanari groaned and gritted her teeth, looking at Renge with pure disgust," Fine, I'll go to school tomorrow."

Renge grinned an unearthly grin, and once Kanari left, she went to bed a few hours later. By ten-thirty she was in bed, anxious as she thought as thought about today's events and the events that tomorrow may hold. Rolling to her side and curling up with a stuffed bear between her arms, she shut her eyes while thousands of thoughts swarmed her head. The most prominent one being.

"How long am I going to be able to pull off this Pretty Cure thing?"

The next morning, Renge awoke bright and early. Today was a new day, she told herself and she had plenty of things she had to look forward to. Such as the first day of after-school clubs along with Kanari's first day back. Maybe, with some luck, today would be a normal day, filled with nothing but average normal classes and nothing in relation to Pretty Cure or Temptasia. Renge put on her glasses, threw her school uniform on and styled her hair into the same buns she wore yesterday. Only two more weeks of this, she reminded herself.

When Renge left the door and walked out to the bus stop, she looked around and took in the scenery. Which was something she didn't usually do. In truth, she really loved sunrises, but she never woke up early enough to catch a glimpse of them. She only usually saw them during winter, when the sun would take an eternity to rise, but did those ever really count as sunrises? One day, before winter came, she promised herself that she would wake up early enough to catch the view of the sunrise.

Renge hoped she'd see Kanari on the bus but after noticing Kanari's absence during the ride, she assumed Kanari was going to be late. But then another thought came to her, what if she wasn't going to come at all? Renge sighed at the thought and pushed the scenario to the back of her mind.

She walked into class, expecting a vacancy in Kanari's spot, but no. Her spot was actually filled, with Kanari! Renge was taken aback, she wouldn't have ever expected Kanari to come _earlier_ than her! The white-haired girl sat in the desk, looking down with a nervous look dominating her face. She wore the uniform to suit her taste with the proper white short sleeved shirt decorated with a grey tie and buttons. She also wore a necklace with a cross pendant on it and her orchid laced-up boots that went up to her knees obscured three quarters over her knee high green socks with bones printed on it. Her hair was gathered up in a high ponytail secured by a blue x-shaped clip and she wore a little less makeup from the last time Renge saw her.

It was Renge's turn to be impressed now," Looking good."

Kanari raised her eyebrows at the comment and responded," Thanks, I guess."

"You seem tense."

"Well, it's not everyday you go back to school after being absent for months." Kanari said, seeming a little jittery as she removed the bracelets on her arms just to restack them in a different order. The two of them took note of students walking into class and glaring over towards Kanari, seeming inquisitive about Kanari's unexpected appearance. Even Ms. Yamamoto was surprised when she saw Kanari seated in the desk she assigned for her, the desk she had expected to be empty for the remainder of the year. Yamamoto arched an eyebrow when she looked at Kanari, who seemed like she was trying desperately to blend in.

"Class, I think the reappearance of a certain student calls for a reintroduction." Ms. Yamamoto declared, while a few students were still watching Kanari in a incredulous manner. Kanari felt her heart accelerate as if she was about to burst but, as the silence and the stares prolonged, Kanari unwillingly walked up to the front of the classroom. She took a deep breath and one final look at her classmates before beginning her reintroduction.

"Hi, some of you may know me as Kanari Mizukage. While the rest of you may know me as that girl who disappeared in May or June. Well, I'm here now. And for the record, no I did not turn hikikomori."

"So then with all the free-time you had during those last few months, what exactly did you do?" Ms. Yamamoto interrogated.

Kanari laughed off the tense, unwelcoming vibes she was receiving from Yamamoto,"..Hahaha, things."

"Please be seated in your assigned seat besides Kotori." Ms. Yamamoto instructed. Renge had a half-grin on her face when Kanari approached her seat and watched as the girl sit down looking just as anxious as before. Renge had a half-grin on her face when Kanari approached her seat and watched the girl sit down looking as anxious as before. Considering that it had been quite a while since Kanari had been in school the least Renge could do was sympathize with her. Class continued as usual with the same boring lessons which followed by the same boring morning class; just what Renge wanted. But then during lunch, things seemed to take a turn for the worst in Kanari's world. Renge had requested her to have lunch with a few of their old friends that she ditched during those couple of months to, as Renge put it, reconnect. Kanari was fine with the idea since she didn't hold anything in particular against them. If anything, she was actually kinda eager to see them. It had been so long and she hadn't heard anything from them within the last couple of months aside from the odd text massage that she almost would never reply to. It wasn't as if she didn't want to keep in touch, she just wasn't too fond of the idea of texting when they were only a half an hour walk from home. But then again, it's not like she made the effort to see them either.

Kanari threw her binders and pencil case into her desk carelessly and dashed out of the classroom with her lunch box held in hand. But just as she was running to the side exit of the school, she heard a few voices that threw her name back and forth between the few seconds she was in earshot. Out of impulse, she stopped in her tracks and spun around to see where the voices came from. It was a group of girls Kanari recognized from last year that were in her and Renge's class, but were moved into another class this year.

" Kanari, you're back! It's so good to see you!" One of the girls gushed with artificial kindness. Kanari could see through her act with ease but decided to play along for the hell of it.

"Toshie, is that you? I couldn't even recognize you! Did your chest get _smaller?!_ Damn, didn't even think that was possible! Kanari remarked, pretending to be ignorant.

"Is that what when when your at home for too long?" Toshie asked curiously as she fixated her gaze on Kanari's hair.

"No, no. Just a little bleach on some naturally ash-blonde hair." Kanari said with false humbleness. Kanari felt stupid just talking to this girl. She was so passive-aggressive it hurt Kanari's brain. It she wanted to fight, she didn't have to do this and pretend to sound like Kanari's friend.

"So what were you up to this summer?" Toshie asked," It just must have been something so fun that you had to just disappear halfway during the school year."

"First of all, it wasn't halfway you conceited witch. And second of all its not any of your business." Kanari countered with slight irritation.

Toshie seemed surprised that she was able to get on Kanari's nerves this quick, so now she decided to have a little more fun with the white-haired girl.

"Well, I mean, don't you think it's a little weird to just drop out and reappear all of a sudden? Don't you think that's bound to cause a little bit of commotion? Most of us kinda thought you moved schools, or even died."

"You know, it sounds like you were hoping for the latter." Kanari said somehow sounding it's uninterested and bitter at the same time.

Finally, Toshie's innocent act was dropped,"Not saying I wasn't you freaking-"

Renge appeared from nowhere to break things up," Hey come on guys! We're better than this remember? We're seniors now! We need to set a good example for the younger grades!"

Kanari and Toshie broke up their dispute, but they were still as resentful as before to each other.

"You know, you really didn't have to come back to school." Toshie said with a cackle as her group reassembled to walk off.

" Your insults are weak!" Kanari shouted back," Wow, first day back and I get attacked. Just what are the odds?"

" I'm really sorry you had to go through by yourself. But just to be clear, you weren't picking a fight in the first place were you?"

"No! If anything, I really don't care to even argue anymore. But you know how it is, everybody's a critic." Kanari mused.

"She's such an idiot!" The two heard a voice scream out.

"You see?!" Kanari cried in defense as she held back a giggle. That was so well timed.

Renge shot her a look. The two of them went towards the direction of where the voice came from. It certainly didn't sound like Toshie's voice but it did sound somewhat concerning. They peered into an empty classroom, 3-7 to be exact and found their student council vice-president, Akemi Mayushiro tapping her fingers against her Aiphone with much haste and distress. After she finished doing that, she held the phone up to her ear and stood impatiently. She ran a hand through her hair anxiously as she waited for whoever she was calling to pick up.

"Miki, are you in school today?" Akemi asked in an unusually calm tone.

"I could never pull that off." Renge remarked in a whisper.

"Same." Kanari whispered.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right, your flight got delayed?" Akemi asked. A voice could be heard talking back to Akemi but the words were incoherent for Renge and Kanari. Akemi was listening attentively but seemed to still be quite tense and uneasy as she darted her eyes around the room nervously.

"Oh, ok. So your flight _did_ get delayed. And now your stuck in Hawaii for a few more days. Well, if there's nothing you can do about it, you may as well enjoy yourself alright Miki? Oh and don't worry, I'll have everything done by the time you come back, ok? Got it, see you in a few days." Akemi said before she hung up the phone.

Akemi stared down at the phone and held it close to her chest. She stood there looking as if she was in very deep thought. She then took a seat and looked over to the clipboard laying on the desk in front of her.

"So, in Maizawa's absence, all that has to be done is approve/deny the petitioned clubs, start conceptualizing some ideas for school trip fundraisers, and how could I not mention Culture fest?" Akemi listed, followed by a massive sigh. She just feel the headache coming on and all she did was read out the list of things that needed to be done.

"It's not like I have my own personal affairs either, or , even my own club I have to attend and partake in." Akemi lamented.

"I feel kinda bad for Mayushiro," Renge commented quietly as the two watched Akemi organized papers that were stacked beside the clipboard. Kanari nodded in agreement and suddenly, Akemi rose up from her seat and walked out of the classroom.

Renge and Kanari then acted casually as Akemi walked past them and exchanged expressions in question of what they should do.

"I mean, does it actually concern us?" Kanari asked. Renge shrugged and Renny immediately emerged from Renge's bag.

"You better not have touched my rainbow chocolate chip brownies." Renge warned ominously.

"I wouldn't eat that junk if it was the last thing on earth. Anyways, I think you two should go follow that girl!" Renny yell-whispered.

"I mean she's cute and all, but stalking her's kinda out of the question don't you think?" Kanari pointed out.

Renny glared at her," You know that's not what I meant."

"Well I guess we better go after Akemi before we lose her." Renge decided, sounding a little unenthusiastic. The two reluctantly went after Akemi and relocated her by a vending machine outside of the school.

"Ooh, yes, get the iced mocha.." Kanari whispered as if pretending to be Akemi' conscience. Renge gave the girl a questionable look.

"This vending machine has a tendency to give out French vanilla when iced mocha is picked.." Kanari explained with a huge grin.

Akemi selected the iced mocha, just as Kanari wanted and just as she predicted, a French vanilla was dispensed.

"French vanilla?" Akemi said puzzled with a hint of disgust.

"If you're not going to drink it, I can take it off your hands.." The girls suddenly heard a voice offer. They all looked towards the direction where the voice had came from.

Standing in front of Akemi was a boy who appeared to be a young adult with sandy beige skin, topaz shaded eyes and violet hair. He wore a coat with short sleeves with a mesh tank top peeking out underneath it and simple indigo jeans. He was quite tall and he carried this faint yet prominent smell of what appeared to be cannabis on him.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Akemi questioned in a stuck-up fashion as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"My name's Rishi, but that little bit of trivia isn't going to be of any value to you." The boy answered as he drew out a magnifying glass from his pocket. All of a sudden, Akemi was tied up against what greatly resembled one of those poles that would generate electricity and from where he was standing, he was able to extract her Inner Scholar in a matter of seconds.

"So, it looks like he's our enemy too." Kanari noted,standing up from her kneeling position as if she was about to take action.

"Ah, not so fast.." Renge said as she put an arm in front of Kanari,"You aren't a Pretty Cure."

"Not yet." Kanari stated as she crossed her arms,"Besides, what am I suppose to do in the meantime, sit on the sidelines?"

"If that what it takes to keep you safe." Renge responded as she took her Fountain Pen of Knowledge out from her bag. Kanari reluctantly sat back down and watched as Renge readied herself to transform.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" Renge cried out as millions of flashy red lights twinkled around her. Most people who got the chance to watch Renge transform shielded their eyes due to how _bright_ the transformation was. But Kanari just stood there, with her eyes slightly squinted in disdain.

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!"Literature introduced. Kanari raised her eyebrows as she examined her transformed friend.

"Nice." Was her sole, mono-syllabled response.

"Y-you didn't watch me transform, did you?" Literature stuttered awkwardly.

"Guilty." Kanari replied tonelessly as her gaze shifted to the side.

Literature shook her head and went to confront Rishi.

"You!" Literature shouted heroically as she emerged out from their hiding spot," Give that innocent girl her Inner Scholar back this instant!"

Rishi looked at her intrigue the remarked with a scoff," So, this is the Pretty Cure I've been hearing about? Well, this is going to be fun…"

He then took the can of French Vanilla coffee out from Akemi's hand through some form of telepathy and turned it into a Delinquous. The can grew quickly and soon, it was gigantic and filled with malicious intent.

"Delinquous!" The once-average can of coffee bellowed.

Literature then tried to strategize in the few moments she had while the Delinquous was dashing up to her. Unfortunately she didn't have enough time to think of anything cunning before her foot made contact with the Delinquous.

Impatiently, Literature cried out," Just give me a minute!"

Rishi rolled his eyes at Renge's little outburst," Sorry, but you're going to have to be a little more quick-witted if you want to survive against this Delinquous."

As Literature tried her hardest to keep up with the Delinquous and all it's attacks, Rishi continued to speak.

"Zephora and Jika did say you put up a decent fight against their Delinquous. But that doesn't mean you'll be able to win this time.." Rishi said ominously as the Delinquous slammed Literature into the vending machine. Literature sat up, feeling majorly sore all over. She took a deep breath and from the 'sidelines' of the fight, a voice could be heard whispering,

"You're getting creamed!"

Literature clenched her teeth and looked in Kanari's direction for a split second.

Literature hastily mouthed the words "Not now!" and immediately went back to fighting the Delinquous.

"I don't see why she doesn't let me join the fight, it's no fun just sitting here." Kanari moaned quietly with a small frown carved onto her face.

Renny looked over to her sympathetically," Well, suppose you _aren't_ the next Pretty Cure and you do join the fray, powerless against the Delinquous; would getting beat by the Delinquous any more fun than sitting here?"

"Oh come on, I bet I could rough of a little bit as plain old Kanari.." Kanari smirked as she showed off her biceps to Renny.

"She's only trying to protect you, you know that right?" Renny explained to Kanari.

"Yeah ok, that much I get. But we made a bet. And I can't even hope to win, which I don't need to, if I don't get out there and try!" Kanari reasoned. Renny looked at her with dismay. She did have a point, but protecting Kanari, a bystander who had virtually nothing to do with this was more important than some bet. But the longer he stared into Kanari's deep violet eyes, the more unsure he felt about his decision.

"Tell that to Cure Literature." Renny said unwillingly with a small sigh following shortly afterwards. Kanari grinned with excitement, taking Renny's response as a go for it.

She then jumped in between Literature and the Delinquous.

"Not so fast you tasty fiend!" Kanari cried as she pointed a finger to the Delinquous.

"Kanari, just what do you think you're doing?" Literature said in terror for her friend between clenched teeth.

"I can't win if I don't try." Kanari pointed out.

"Kanari, this is serious!" Literature yelled frantically.

"And me winning the bet isn't?" Kanari snickered.

"It doesn't matter." Rishi said nonchalantly," After all, her and this lying little eyesore will be done with after this."

"That is no way to talk about Mayushiro!" Kanari hollered," She's is no way or form dishonest!"

"Then what do you call that little scene she had earlier, _pretending_ she wasn't angry with her friend for not being at school?"

Kanari looked towards Rishi, revolted,"That's just being mature! Sure, Mayushiro had every right to be mad at her for leaving her with all the work. But she didn't get mad, wanna know why? Because she's better than that, she won't let her emotions get the better of her and she won't let anything get in her way!"

"And just like her…." Kanari continued as the Delinquous, who clobbered Literature with a swing of the arm.

"…I'm not letting anything get in my way either!"

A burst of blue light appeared from Kanari and encased her body, leaving everyone else in the vicinity with their eyes shut in fear of losing their vision.

Kanari looked ecstatic, having a pretty good idea of what this meant. Literature wasn't sure whether or not to be thrilled because now, it had appeared that she lost the bet but at least she had a teammate now, who luckily doubled as her best friend. Within the vessel of bright shimmery blue lights, Kanari found a blue pen accented with silver and decorated in gems within her right hand.

"Now Kanari, shout 'Pretty Cure, study session!' " Renny instructed her, though she was obscured by the light-show.

Kanari twirled the pen around within her hand, tossed it up into the air and caught it," Don't have to tell me twice!"

"Pretty Cure, study session!" Kanari cried out. Kanari was transported to this dimension that was many, many shades of blue with geometric shapes all around her. She twirled around in a very ballerina-esque fashion and a circle appeared from what seemed like nowhere and collided with her body, causing a dress with many shades of blue to materialize onto her. The dress appeared to have a mathematics motifs as their were small plus and minus signs adorned onto the skirt of the dress, along with countless other things. Her hair was then dyed from snow white to a very light blue and gathered up into a bun with only her bangs framing her face. A pair of rectangles then struck her arms and stacks of chevron shaped metallic blue bracelets covered her arms along with a row of rings on her fingers. She finally jumped up and did the splits in mid-air, with a pair of turquoise boots forming on each leg and made a rectangle shape with her fingers over her chest. When she split the rectangle into two, a white and blue ribbon formed onto her chest. She then struck a pose,

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" She introduced.

She then chuckled deviously and looked in Literature's direction," Hey, look...I'm a Pretty Cure now."

"Just start attacking or something." Literature said uninterestedly. Arithmetic did as told but first, she came up with a plan before she started to take the offensive.

"Considering my knowledge on these Delinquouses is quite limited as of now, it'd be best to observe it in battle first!" Arithmetic decided as she began to fight the Delinquous. She initially took the defensive side of the battle but after observing how the Delinquous moved and it's fighting patterns, she was able to decipher a way to knock the Delinquous off it's feet.

Based on Arithmetic's estimation, the Delinquous would take a giant step with it's left leg and swing for her from below and that's exactly what it did. So, to throw it off, Arithmetic jumped up just as the Delinquous swung for her.

"Pretty Cure, Geometric frenzy!" Arithmetic shouted as she drove her heel into the foot of the Delinquous.

"Lit!" Arithmetic called out while dug her heel into the Delinquous' foot, causing it great pain. Literature nodded and dashed towards the Delinquous and yelled out,

"Pretty Cure, Poetic jurisdiction!"

The Delinquous was bound against to the ground thanks to the quills and looked absolutely exhausted.

"Down already?" Rishi commented, sounding rather unimpressed as he let out a tiny sigh.

"Pretty Cure..." Arithmetic began as the atmosphere turned blue,"...Problem-solving Paradox!" The once-normal, once-simply blue atmosphere was now blue with shapes appearing from nowhere coming together to purify the Delinquous. The Delinquous was purified and as soon as the atmosphere returned to normal, Rishi disappeared and the two Cures detransformed. Akemi's cerise coloured Inner Scholar, which again could only be viewed as a glowing orb to the girls, was returned back to the unconscious girl.

When Akemi awoke, she found herself alone laying on a bench with a note and a bottle of iced mocha coffee beside her.

 _"Hey Akemi, we noticed you were a little stressed out and it the whole overworking-yourself-while-not-doing-anything-yet kinda took a toll on you. We think you should relax and take things one step at a time, and if it really is too much for you, then you always have the rest of the student council members to help you. Or you could even wait to finish some of these tasks when Miki gets back. Anyways, just remember, you're not alone. You can always depends on others if you feel the task are too much to handle on your own. From-"_

"C _._ L and C.A?" Akemi read aloud.

"You two just couldn't say it to her face?" Renny asked skeptically.

The two turned pale as a sheet at the thought, with Renge holding her hand against her chest laboriously and Kanari doing everything in her power to avoid eye-contact with Renny. The two seemed so agoraphobic right now to Renny and he couldn't pinpoint why. Oh well, another day, another Delinquous defeated.


	4. Ooh, A collage fair

Later on in the day, after Kanari's unexpected transformation and the defeat of Renge's third Delinquous, the first day of after-school clubs began. Renge hurried to the art classroom and felt the need to gasp out for air as she ran at full-speed, the second bell had just rang! She held all of her supplies that were compulsory for the club in her hands and made sure that was where they would stay on her mad dash to the classroom. She skidded to a stop as she reached the front of the classroom. She took a deep breath and immediately coughed out of disgust. She moaned, why of all hallways did her beloved art classroom have to be stuck in the middle-school hall? The kids were pretty gross in regards to everyone above middle school and no high schooler in their right of mind would be caught anywhere near this hall if it wasn't for the art room. Renge walked into the classroom in a brisk manner that deviated her away from her original frantic wave of panic. She acted in a calm, cool manner as she looked towards the classroom, pretending she had little to no interest in the people around when in truth, she was somewhat desperate to know who was going to share the joy of being in art club this year? Most kids were unrecognizable, they all appeared to be first-years actually and she could only distinguish a few second-years out of the bunch around her and only about five third years seemed to be present in the classroom. Renge then noticed one of her better friends, Ayano, was seated in the spot she had pre-chose on the opposite side of class. Ayano didn't appear to notice her as she deep too absorbed in the book she was reading, her glasses falling lower onto her nose as she got literally deeper into the book. Ayano was seated by one of her other friends and there was one spot beside her that happened to be vacant. But her own pre-chosen spot was also vacant. Eventually, Renge came to a decision and took her pre-chosen spot. There were going to be other times for her to socialize with Ayano, but her spot actually meant a lot to her. For two years straight she would sit in that spot in Art club and for two years she'd watched people enter this class for the first time, reappear after a fulfilling vacation, or disappear after a tiring year. The spot on her left was empty and on her right sat a boy a year junior to her with an indifferent expression on his face as he peered down to the tablet he had hidden in his bag on his lap. His dirty blond hair hung over the sides of his face and his glasses were probably reflecting whatever he was watching. It appeared to be some anime, but it was likely some obscure one considering Renge herself couldn't identify it. What was bugging Renge now was not remembering what this kid's name was.

"Nobu? Or wait..-Nao!" Renge felt quite proud of herself for remembering that. He had been in this class last year, but he sat with the rest of the first-years on the opposite side where they had all decided to sit that year. But now, he was seated between Renge and one of the other students that were in third-year with Renge. After the rest of the club assembled into the room, a few students engaged in conversation before the club actually began. The teacher that was in charge of the club explained what was going to happen during the club and what kinda of supplies would be useful to have for the class. Renge zoned out for a couple of moments but snapped back to reality when the teacher began to rant about the name for a certain art tool.

"Now, class please. You may either call them tortillions or even stomps, so whenever you want to borrow one from me do _not_ call them blendy-sticks or smudgers, otherwise chances are you're not getting one." He explained as if he had done this for the umpteenth time today.

"And this year, I'm afraid we're going to have to rush through all the fun projects I had planned for this year. Thanks to the new schedule."

A few students exchanged some confused glances as others stared the teacher down in anticipation for a continuation to that sentence.

"Well, judging by all these stares, I'm assuming a select few of you read the fine print on the notice for the club sign-up sheet this year."

"Fine print?" A few first years muttered, with the most audible repeat coming from Renge.

"Why yes, and of course being the diligent third-year student you are you must have noticed it." The teacher said to Renge, who smiled sheepishly and sunk into her seat.

"This year, some clubs have been shortened to one semester, rather than the whole year. This club being one of the clubs that got shortened."

"Why?" The first years asked quietly amongst themselves.

"Goodness, you're all _so_ shy! If you really want an answer you may as well just ask as loud as Miss Kotori over here." The teacher exclaimed causing Renge to sink further into her seat,"This club along with a few others, has been shortened due to enormous club sizes, so to accommodate to everyone's choices, we've made two different…sections for one club so everyone gets a chance to be in it."

"So, if anyone gets confronted by one of the student council members unexpectedly,don't be afraid, they don't bite. But I can't be so sure about Mayushiro.." The teacher explained, causing a few students to giggle.

Renge then wondered," Is my Drama club going to be for only one semester too?"

"Boy, think of it Nao," The boy sitting beside Nao, Marco,remarked," A semester of Band club."

"Yeah...that's not gonna happen.." Nao said uninterestedly, his eyes still on his tablet.

"…I know. I said think of it." Marco repeated.

Nao looked up from his tablet for a moment and squinted at Marco. After that moment he then returned to his tablet as if nothing had happened.

Renge rolled her eyes and continued to listen to the teacher.

"And for those of you who are in second or third year, next week is the College fair week for those of you who are interested in a post-secondary education." The teacher added just before he assigned the first project of the year. Renge felt that anxious, bittersweet feeling from within her arise again. The feeling was enough to tie her stomach in knots for hours and cloud her mind more than a major assignment could. This was probably why she avoided thinking about post-secondary for those last few weeks of summer vacation. But still, even though her 'career' as a high-school student was drawing to a close in the near-but-distant future, she really needed to start living in the present. Meaning not worrying about what was yet to come and focus on the now so she wouldn't regret it later. No matter how many times she told herself that, it was just something her brain simply couldn't wasn't easy to think about her third-year in a possible manner but she always kept telling herself, she'd regret it in a year from now when all of this was over. After a couple of minutes, Akemi had popped into the classroom to distribute permission forms for the college fair.

"I really hope you all can come!" Akemi exclaimed, sounding genuinely excited for the college fair. It wasn't too surprising that the student body vice-president seemed so thrilled for such an important date, but she seemed almost too thrilled as she handed out flyers to every second and third year student.

Renge looked over to the other third years amongst the classroom to see what their initial impression to this slip of paper would be. Most of them seemed to be reading the page with much intent as their eyes darted from the left to right of the page. And then there was Marco and Nao who simply didn't take a single glance at it, the latter muttering he'd read it later. During class, after being issued the first assignment, Renge flipped through the pages of a book that featured many pages of illustrations and paintings. Their first assignment had been to recreate a piece of art and remake into their own, as if the original piece was to draw inspiration for it.

Renge found a few pieces she liked that she could use for inspiration so maybe she could use them for inspiration. They all seemed to be circled around a certain theme, pop-art. She really enjoyed Liechtenstein's pieces. They all seemed be inspired by comics, which was pretty cool.

Once again, after club, Renny pleaded Renge to have the "Pretty Cure information session" with Kanari, considering they tried limiting Kanari on her Pretty Cure Intel when hadn't yet awoken as Cure Arithmetic.

As Renny painted out the scene of absolute tragedy, also known as the disappearance of the Book of Omnipotence, verbally for Kanari, the newfound Cure was listening, enticed by this story that Renny was sharing with her. Meanwhile Renge was just impressed with how adept Renny was at storytelling. He didn't apprise Renge in such a manner that made his situation sound so, fascinating. Perhaps he told Kanari the ordeal like this in order to capture her attention. Kanari felt herself undergo a roller-coaster of emotions as Renny spoke about the disappearance of the book and how Univer City became powerless without it. Once Renny had completed telling his story about why the Pretty Cure needed to defeat Temptasia, Kanari then put her hands onto the bird's very tiny shoulders.

"I'm so sorry for you and everyone in Univer City. I had no idea it would be this big of a deal. But now that I'm aware of how crucial it is to get the book, I won't give up until we find it." Kanari declared.

"Me too, but a thought just came to me." Renge began," What's the relationship between the Inner Scholars and the Book of Omnipotence?"

"A complicated one." Renny responded, still trying to think of reasonable answer for the girls," They can't really exist without the other but it's not like they balance themselves out; like light and dark. The Inner Scholars _do_ draw out some of their own power from the book…but other than that, it's a little hard to explain."

Renge nodded, seeming still slightly confused but decided to put the little debate to rest. But suddenly, Kanari lunged for something in Renge's bag.

"What're you doing?!" Renge cried as she swooped down and grabbed her bag before Kanari did. Kanari looked up at her wide-eyed, with the college fair paper in hand.

"Where'd you get this?" Kanari asked in a curious, almost child-like tone. Renge's eye-brow twitched, she would never, not even after fourteen years, become adjusted to Kanari's abnormal tendencies.

"At Art Club.." Renge responded, sounding a little bothered by Kanari's unexpected lunge from before.

"Ooh, A Collage Fair…" Kanari marveled as she held the page between her very pale hands, the unheard of colleges on the page catching her eye.

" _College_ fair…" Renge corrected in a deadpan tone,"Come to think of it, Kanari have you picked a club yet?"

"Nah, screw it." Kanari responded as she waved her hand in dismissal with her eyes still on the paper.

"Alright, the next thing on our to-do list is find Kanari a club." Renge stated to Renny who nodded rapidly in agreement.

"You still want to go into Law right?" Renge asked Kanari whose eyes were still glued to the paper.

"You know it." Kanari responded quickly as if she didn't even need to think about the question.

"Don't you think your attendance records are going to affect your chances of admission?" Renge questioned.

"Not unless I give an honest response as to why I'm so absent." Kanari responded candidly as she checked the back of the page to see if there was anything written on it. She pouted a small pout when she realized it was blank.

" 'I don't like school' is probably not going to be a sufficient response." Renge insisted as she folded her arms.

"Then I just won't say that.." Kanari shrugged with a tiny smirk,"All it takes for something to seem honest is just how plausible and real it _sounds.."_

Kanari actually had a point, which scared Renge. Kanari's confidence in her career choice also made Renge feel a little inferior as well. Renge wished she had the some of the confidence Kanari had when it came to her career. After a little while, Kanari went home and by ten o'clock, Renge was already in bed.

"The future isn't as far as I thought it was huh?" Renge said aloud softly as she took a deep breath. Tonight, she dreamt of light-hearted things, just a regular school day, enjoying normal classes, talking with all of her friends as usual, a perfectly normal school day. The only problem was, these people in her dream, were getting replaced by a new face Renge couldn't identify almost instantaneously. It began to feel overwhelming and she began to search for her friends helplessly. She ran into every hallway of the school and when she finally found her group of friends, she woke up.

Renge sat up in an instant and breathed heavily. She glanced over to her clock and found out it was only 6:59. Well, there wasn't going to be much point in going back to bed now but she could at least shut her eyes for a few more minutes before she'd actually have to get out of bed. But, after only a few mere moments, she got out of bed anyways, feeling too disoriented from that dream to even lay in bed.

When Renge got to school, she decided focusing on that dream that made little-to-no sense was pointless, so as usual, she tried focusing on the lessons being taught in class. But throughout her first two mornings classes, she found herself unconsciously doodling pictures of her friends as her classes droned on. It was such an oddity for Renge, at least for this year. She had made sure she was going to spend a hundred percent of the class paying attention like her life after high school depended on it (Which it sorta did.) So why was she spacing so frequently today and drawing away onto her notes as if she was in sixth grade again? It was frustrating her greatly and just to keep herself from doodling she attempted to take notes with her right hand, because if she could barely write legibly with her non-dominant hand, heaven knows how she would be able to draw with it.

After that class, she looked over her crudely written notes, feeling both satisfied and embarrassed with herself.

"I guess I can just rewrite them later.." Renge finalized as she put them away into her binder. She took out her Literature binder and felt a little more at ease, since the chances of her doodling were much lower in this class since they were reading a book today. But, when the teacher entered the classroom, it appeared she had something else planned for today as she began to write instructions for some kinda of project on the white board.

"Shoot, I was looking forward to seeing what happens to after Stanley hits Stella..." Renge grumbled as she tucked the book back into her binder. After the teacher was finished writing on the board, she then spun around to face her class, a large enthusiastic grin plastered onto her face.

"Good morning class!" She greeted in a singsong voice," So, instead of reading our book today, I decided to do something else. Considering the college fair's in less than a couple of days, I thought it'd be a great idea for you guys to write a paper on where you you see yourself in five or ten years now. The paper is to be at least two and a half pages long, five pages double-spaced.

"How many marks is it worth?" One girl questioned.

"Only five marks, but I really want you guys to take this assignment seriously, ok? I think you all should get a head start on thinking about the future anyways." She answered," But, before you begin your papers, I'm going to pair you into groups of twos so you guys can bounce ideas of each other and get to know at least one person in this class a little better."

The teacher took out a tin can from the desk and shook it up,"Alright so the first group will be..."

"Kotori and Endo!"

The class didn't seem to care at all actually, the only reaction given to the teacher was Renge and Endo looking up and taking brief glances at each other before staring back into their notebooks. After the pairing was done, each pair sat at a desk and tried to engage in conversations. Some pairs seeming more awkward than others, with Renge's being no exception. As the boy looked down to his notebook Renge looked over to him, feeling a little uncomfortable in his presence. Shigeru Endo, Renge in fact knew this boy a little better than some of the other students in this class, but not by much. She remembered in first year, she had a massive crush on him but looking at him now, she wasn't so sure why. Their desks were next to each other in first year but they seldom spoke a word to each other. And soon, their desks were rearranged, and they were consistently seated on opposite sides of the classroom for the rest of year. After so little interaction, Renge's crush faded, and she sort of forgot about him. In first-year, Shigeru was on the soccer team and he got major attention from the girls because of it, but he wasn't very good. A few months later, to Renge's and his own relief, he quit that. Sitting in front of Renge now, he was as shy as he was in first year. The only different thing about him was his hair colour, as he was a blond in first year but apparently dyed in brown by the end of second.

Soon, Renge decided to break the ice, realizing this endless silence was getting the both of them nowhere,"So, what are your plans after high-school Endo?"

"Not too sure," He murmured as he looked up to face Renge. His pale blue eyes had little emotion behind them, as did his voice. Nothing had change since first year.

"Have you thought a lot about it?" Renge probed, feeling a little guilty for these somewhat constant questions for this quiet kid.

"Can't say I have.." He confessed, with a small smirk. Renge shared the laugh with him, feeling a little less tense.

"Well, what did you want to be as a kid then?" Renge asked as she placed her folded hands onto his desk.

"A national league soccer player, but sadly, I don't think that's in the cards for me." Shigeru answered, his voice full of sarcasm.

"It could be." Renge shrugged.

"After how badly I did on the soccer team during first year, I personally don't think it could happen.." Shigeru responded, trying to make as light of the subject as possible.

"Is that why joined the team?" Renge asked, not realizing how personal that was," Oh-! You don't really need to answer that, if you don't want to..."

"Eh, it's cool. But, yeah..that's sorta why I joined. Well, that and all of my other friends were on the team." Shigeru explained, sounding a little vague to Renge,"But, what about you?"

"What about what?" Renge sputtered, forgetting almost entirely was the pairing-up was for.

"What are you going to do after high-school?" Shigeru questioned.

"Oh! I..I wanna go into Graphic design," Renge answered, appearing a little defensive after saying that.

Shigeru simply nodded and responded with a,"That's cool. Ugh, I don't really want to do this assignment."

"Do you think anyone here does?" Renge said with a slight scoff. Shigeru laughed with her. In truth, Renge didn't mind this assignment, it was just the idea of actually _doing_ it that slightly turned her off.

"Miss Kitaouji is a bit of an air-head..." Renge noted quietly to Shigeru.

"Air-head's just putting it mildly.." Shigeru whispered back, causing Renge to actually hold in a laugh. After realizing they didn't need anymore brainstorming now, Renge decided to change the subject.

"Are you going to go to the college fair?" She interrogated.

"Maybe..." Shigeru blandly responded, drawing his attention back to the notebook on his desk,"...I'm not too sure if there's anything there for me."

Renge thought about his response for a few moments, trying to figure out exactly what he meant. From what she heard, it sounded as if, he had no interest in post-secondary at all. Which did concern Renge, put she had to put her concerns to the side as class was over.

Renge, Kanari and Ayano sat together outside during lunch.

"It's great to see you again, Kanari." Ayano said while chomping down on a few spoonfuls of rice.

"You too, Yano.." Kanari responded as she gulped down huge sips of her french vanilla coffee.

Renge took a deep breath in irritation as she watched these two wolf down their lunches while attempting to engage in conversation. They were both pretty big eaters, but they honestly didn't need to eat as if they were in a rush. She just shook her head and nibbled on her rice-ball.

"So, Kanari I saw you got paired up with Mitsuru.." Renge stated as she continued to eat.

"Yeah, god can that girl talk! She literally has her entire life planned from what university she's going to go to to what elementary school her children are going to be enrolled in." Kanari lamented as she dropped as whole packet of fruit snacks in her mouth.

"Well, damn." Renge simply responded upon hearing that.

"I know, I can barely decide on what colour binder I should use for science, let alone think about my future kids.." Kanari responded, taking another gracious gulp of her coffee.

"Implying you're going to have kids.." Renge smirked, causing Kanari to throw a fork at her.

"Watch it, I was just kidding!" Renge shouted in defense," But, I guess it isn't so bad to have a plan."

"So, how was working with Endo?" Kanari asked, catching Renge off-guard.

Renge didn't feel too comfortable telling her the entire story, so she simply said," It was fine."

"He's the only kid I've seen that went from loner to classic jerk to total loner again within the span of three years..." Kanari stated, emptying out her lunch bag in hopes there may have been some food she had yet to devour.

"I wouldn't say he was what you would call a jerk..." Renge defended quietly, her claim unheard by the girls.

"All of his other friends don't even show up to school anymore.." Ayano pointed out.

"Aren't they all in a gang or something?" Kanari asked as she ripped open the wrapper of the granola bar she found in the bottom of her lunch bag.

"Probably not a gang, that's such a nineties thing.." Renge noted as she stretched out her arms,"..Either way, all his friends are gone."

During math, Renge found herself staring at Shigeru unconsciously and unwillingly. He was staring down vacantly into his notebook and it worried Renge slightly. She knew she was in no position to worry about him like this, but...she also couldn't stand to watch him look so desolate. But, maybe he wasn't as desolate as he seemed. Perhaps that was just his neutral expression or something. Maybe Renge was in truth just looking too deep into this whole matter. But if that was the case, then just _why_ was she doing this? Because she was a Pretty Cure? Or because she used to have a thing for Shigeru Endo? After realizing how long she was staring at Shigeru without him noticing, Renge immediately looked down into her own notebook and pretended to be immersed in her notes. After a moment, her expression softened a bit. That moment reminded her of first year, when she was constantly stealing stares of him shamelessly. All of a sudden, she felt saddened that those days were over, despite the fact that she found first year her most awkward year. As class ended and club time was in session, Renge took a peek at Shigeru as she walked by, who sat in his desk as if he didn't realize the bell sounded. On his desk laid the permission slip for the college signed by him and shy of one signature from his parents, which made Renge feel quite at peace upon seeing that. With any luck, that meant Shigeru had decided to go to the college fair after all. She secretly hoped that Shigeru would find a career that suited him better than the one went amiss. As she was walking to her class, she noticed her bag was peculiarly empty. She then opened it to find that a certain orange bird was missing from her bag. She freaked out internally but after a few moments, she composed herself, now having an idea of just where he might've been.

She headed to the school's library and try to search for Renny in a discreet manner. She also tried to find him as quickly as possible, considering she needed get to her club.

Just as she thought, she discovered Renny looking up and down the shelves of the reference section of the library. Judging by how intent he seemed on this search, he must've has been looking for the Book of Omnipotence again. Renge rolled her eyes, still unseen by Renny. She then noticed the giant encyclopedia the school kept on a podium within a glass case had gone unnoticed by Renny. Or had it? Renge kneeled down and grabbed the bird and put her into her bag within a matter of seconds.

"Come on, just what do you think you're doing?" Renge whisper-shouted as the bird shifted around uncomfortable in the bag.

"Looking for the book?" Renny whispered back.

"In broad daylight?" Renge pointed out in frustration. Later after Art club was over and the school day ended, Renge had a stern talking with Renny.

Before she began to speak, she paced around her room with her arms crossed.

"You know, your school's library isn't as big as I thought it would be." Renny stated," Quite small if you ask me and of course it can't even compete with the size Of Univer City's libraries."

"Don't do that." Renge dictated imperatively.

"Make comparisons?" Renny asked innocently.

"Go searching for the book like that. It isn't safe. At all." Renge advised.

"But-"

"I get hat the book needs to be found as soon as possible, but next time, wait for me if you want to search. Otherwise someone may find you and that someone could even be from Temptation."

Renny exhaled a large sigh,"You're right, I didn't think of it like that. I didn't mean to make you worry."

Renge simply shook her head," It's fine. Just don't let it happen again." Renny noticed Renge seemed a lit more sullen than usual and it bothered him slightly that he didn't know why.

"Is everything alright?" The orange bird suddenly asked. Renge seemed slightly alarmed for a second.

"Yeah..I just, I'm worried about this one kid in my class. He doesn't what to do with his life after high-school." Renge explained. If this was anyone else, Renge probably wouldn't have even voiced her worries. But, she liked venting to Renny. There was just something so soothing about talking to a talking bird about her problems.

"Really?" Renny responded, sounding a little bewildered.

"Well, he had a plan and it didn't really work out. He wanted to be a soccer player but he wasn't exactly MVP material." Renge explained.

"Plus, he seems a little lonely…well, at least, to me he does." Renge added, thinking back to looking into Shigeru's eyes. His eyes looked hopeless, lost even. Renny gave her a look that was saying 'Elaborate please.'

"Well, I just don't really know. He's always been kinda shy and most of his friends aren't here this year." Renge explained, sounding a little flustered.

"It sounds like you may need to keep an eye on him, because it sounds like he could fall victim to Temptation." Renny warned.

"Yeah, I should. I just kinda wish I could become friends with him at least. Then maybe he wouldn't be so lonely." Renge confessed after drawing out a sigh.

"So then, why don't you?" Renny asked naively. Renge took a moment to form a response that would be at least comprehensible because right now, she herself was experiencing difficulty in trying to explain why.

"Well, at this point in high-school, everyone's established their friend groups. Some may end up with mixed genders, a mix of grades, but either way, the group is a group. It's kinda hard to make new friends by this time in high-school. It also feels a little pointless too." Renge explained.

Renny understood what Renge was trying to say, but he just couldn't stand behind it,"But if he really wants friends-!"

"Then he'd do something about it right? Well, maybe he actually isn't in much of need of friends as we thought. That's partially why I don't want to try and befriend him." Renge answered.

"But how could he not want to have friends?" Renny questioned.

Renge shrugged,"Maybe he actually does have friends and they go to a different school or something. But I just feel so bad for him every time I see him sitting all alone. Doesn't even have a girlfriend…"

Renge remembered the time in second-year when she found out that Shigeru was dating some girl on the volleyball team. It crushed her when learned that the boy she crushed on hard during first year was dating some random girl. It wasn't as if she still liked him at the time, but she never expected that of him.

During the next couple of days, Renge did as advised on tried to keep an eye on Shigeru. There weren't any significant signs of improvement from him but it wasn't like he was getting worse at least. When the day of the college fair came, Shigeru found himself standing in solitude in the library where the college fair was taking place. He came earlier than intended but he didn't want to leave. Booths were getting set up and pamphlets were being stacked on a table near the front door of the library.

"Did I seriously ditch out on math for this?" Shigeru muttered under his breath. To kill time, he sat at one of the tables in the library and opened his binder to his literature section without realizing it. He was on the page of the project outline for the 'Where I see myself in five or ten years' assignment. The assignment was due yesterday, but he failed to hand it in, which was something unusual for him. The paper was just so aggravating for him to even think about, he didn't even try to begin to write it.

Shigeru scoffed,"Ten years in the future..."

He then thought back to a much more favorable time in his life, ten years in the past. It was a simpler time, and everything was just perfect. No worries for the future, no bad influences, limited freedom. This wasn't so bad, not at all. When he could still dream as freely as he wanted to, without having to think hard about anything. Everyone was his friends, well actually everyone was friends with each other. Nothing to separate them except appearances, there was nothing he wanted more than to return back to those easy-going, careless days.

"Oh, look this boy wants to go back in time~! Such a darling soul!" Jika gushed from within a room filled with wide-screens that displayed pictures of Temptation's next target.

"Well, you're going to have to go down there and take his Inner Scholar before that Pretty Cure girl arrives." Zephora suggested sitting down on a bench with purple orchids growing along it.

"What? I thought Rishi got rid of her..?" Jika said, her voice sounding more remnant to her regular frantic tone. The two girls looked up at Rishi, who was laying down on a floating platform.

"I never said I got rid of her, but rather...the opposite of that happened.." Rishi responded vaguely.

"They multiplied?!" Jika shrieked, her voice brimming with shock and worry.

"How could you let that happen?" Zephora chided as she crossed her arms at Rishi. The boy simply shrugged and yawned as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Relax, at least now they'll be more entertaining to watch.." Rishi stated.

"We're not doing this for our entertainment, we're doing it because we need those Inner Scholars for-"

"I can't take this anymore! Listening to you two argue is wasting my valuable time! I'm leaving!" Jika screamed as she vanished into the human realm.

"Have fun~" Rishi sing-songed in a dull tone.

"So...it's more time you desire?" Shigeru heard a voice behind him croon. He turned around attentively and nervous, finding himself face-to-face with Jika. Completely petrified in seat, Shigeru was standing up thanks to Jika and her calmest hand.

"What an extraordinary specimen, has anyone ever told you that?" Jika asked as she placed the clock face she always kept on her onto Shigeru's chest. Shigeru simply stood, frozen with fear and unable to even try and respond to her. She then took out Shigeru's Inner Scholar once the clock opened up his chest and then shouted,

"Run amok, Delinquous!"

A nearby table had the misfortune of turning into a Delinquous, growing limbs of its own and a consciousness.

"Delinquous!" It bellowed as the horrified representatives from the colleges ran off in total terror. Meanwhile, in Renge's math class, the class heard the cry from the Delinquous and everyone began questioning just what that could've been.

"Class, let's calm down!" The teacher said, sounding rather flustered," I'm pretty sure if just some demo clip from one of the colleges, likely a theatrical course."

"But, Ms. Okada, how can you be so sure?" A student asked, sounding somewhat unsettled.

"Well, what else could it be?" She scoffed. That led the students to wondering just what it could've been and some of them seemed to have became even more worried.

Renge really needed to slip out from classroom knowing all too well what this probably was. She looked over to Kanari who nodded as if she already had a plan. Renge looked at her questioningly but waited to see just what Kanari would do.

" Ms. O! If you're so sure that the sound was just from a video, then let's go to the library and see for ourselves!" Kanari interjected, shooting her hand up high even though she had yet to be called upon and stood in her seat.

"What? No!" Ms. Okada snapped, causing the majority of her class to give her some stares of suspicion.

"Why not?" Kanari asked, her voice sounding much more calmer and soothing, as she slowly crossed her arms.

Ms. O took a deep breath," Fine, you and...-Kotori! Go along and check and see if it was a video."

The two girls walked out, bumping fists and dashed to the library. When the girls reached the library, they were surrounded by a fortress of life-sized pamphlets and trapped after a matter of seconds within stepping foot into the library.

"Yep, totally Temptation's doing!" Kanari shouted as she took a step back into Renge, the pamphlets closing in on them.

"There's probably only one way to blast them out of here.." Renge stated as she took out her Fountain Pen of Knowledge,"..You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Without a doubt!" Kanari exclaimed as she drew out her pen from her pocket.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" The girls cried in unison whilst getting smothered by an array of red and blue lights.

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic announced.

The pamphlets were indeed blown away but as they stood there, Arithmetic noticed something was, missing. She stood there for a moment in deep thought and remained like that until Literature snapped her out of it.

"What is it?" Literature asked impatiently as she found the urge to begin attacking the Delinquous.

"I feel like we should say something at the end of our transformation..you know what I mean?" Arithmetic asked.

"Yeah, I guess we'll have to think about that later though.." Literature responded as she darted towards the Delinquous.

"Guess so..." Arithmetic sighed as she followed behind Literature.

Literature jumped right in front of the Delinquous and startled both the monsterfied table and Jika, who sat down on the librarian's special desk, which was now floating.

"Oh..Pretty Cure's here already?" Jika said actually sounding uninterested for a change.

"It's a talking clock!" Arithmetic gawked as she met her gaze with Jika.

"You, denizen of evil! Prepare to face defeat yet again by the hands of the Pretty Cure!" Literature declared. Arithmetic looked at her partner skeptically as she narrowed her eyes.

"Dude, what's gotten into you?" Arithmetic asked flatly.

Literature whispered," I can't really explain, but I just feel really hyped up when I do that.." Literature whispered, her response followed by a simple shrug.

Literature delivered the first blow as she rushed up to it and drove her fist into the Delinquous' core, causing it to fall backwards and land on a row of computer desks.

"Ouch! Do they always cause this much damage?" Arithmetic asked, cringing at the sight of the computers.

"Well, I've never had to fight them indoors up until now.." Literature explained as she resumed her fight with the Delinquous. The Delinquous began running after her and attempted to jump onto her, but Literature ducked and skidded down against the floor as the Delinquous unwillingly attacked a helpless chair. The chair snapped in two and while the Delinquous was fighting to get back onto it's feet. Arithmetic appeared from above drove her foot into it's back. For a a few seconds, she was causing excruciating pain for the Delinquous, but then it grabbed her without looking and swung her around.

"I don't think I can do this anymore!" Arithmetic screamed in mid-swing, beginning to feel more and more as the swing lasted longer. Arithmetic was thrown onto Literature and the two collided with an aisles of books. The first row tumbling down onto them.

"Next time, we fight outside!" Arithmetic gasped out as she fought to stand up. Her knees were wobbling but she didn't let that get in her way. She bolted up towards the Delinquous and recklessly slid down between it's leg to attempt to attack from behind again.

"Pretty Cure, Geometric Frenzy!" Arithmetic called out in mid-jump. This time, her attack was able to missile out electric blue shapes from her palms and into the back of the Delinquous. The Delinquous appeared to have lost it's balance and just to make sure it would be knocked off it's feet, Literature went over and brought on what she liked to call a "Literature barrage" which was basically a full-on attack filled with punches and kicks.

"Way to go!" Arithmetic cried in mid-jump, not realizing where she was heading.

"You might want to keep an eye out of where you're going..." Literature called out to Arithmetic. The blue Cure spun around and realizing she was falling towards a smaller aisles of bookshelves.

"Whoops!" She cried as she managed to land on top of one bookshelf.

"This Delinquous is just so relentless..who could it be from?" Literature asked quietly as she looked around for some clues to answer her question. She noticed Shigeru lying on the ground unconscious and she felt incredibly guilty as she pieced together all of this.

"I should have known this was going to happen..." Literature grimaced as she held her hands close to her chest.

"Could it be...you had something to do with this darling yet sadly worthless human?" Jika questioned curiously.

"He's not worthless!" Literature shouted out.

"Oh is that so? Then tell me, what would you call a human who can't find what to do with themselves when they've failed to pursue their dreams?" Jika interrogated, her sentence ending with a snicker.

"Lucky! Because now, they don't have to chain themselves to a dream that isn't for them. They have this boundless world to explore and re-find themselves, who cares if they get a little lost on their way? Can you blame them?" Literature cried out," It's ok if things don't work out. After all, it's better to try and fail than fail to try!"

"Wow, now I get what she means when by hyping up..." Arithmetic noted quietly as she watched Literature charge full-throttle at the Delinquous. She fought long and hard, and tirelessly against the Delinquous, making sure that she wouldn't miss a beat during this fight.

Arithmetic felt a little guilty for sitting back and letting Literature do all the work, so she reentered the fray. Her pace was a little slower than Literature but managed to keep up. She noticed how passionate Literature looked as she fought against the Delinquous and Arithmetic couldn't help but wonder, why? Was it because of Shigeru? Or was it this inner sense of justice she never knew Renge to have?

"Arithmetic, finishing blow!" Literature yelled as she continued to deliver punches to the Delinquous. Arithmetic nodded and the two struck the finishing blow with the Delinquous crashing against a row of tables.

Literature desperately tried to catch her breath so she could purify the Delinquous, but Arithmetic put a hand in front of her protectively.

'I got this one." She casually insisted.

"Pretty Cure..." Arithmetic began as the atmosphere turned blue,"...Problem-solving Paradox!" The atmosphere turned blue like it did before and shapes appeared from out of nowhere to purify the Delinquous. The Delinquous was cleansed and Shigeru's periwinkle coloured Inner Scholar retreated back into him.

"A second defeat?! How could they..?!" Jika sputtered out hysterically," I'll make sure _I'll_ be the one to make your days numbered, Pretty Cure!" !" That ominous, unearthly claim from Jika made Arithmetic a little uneasy, but she shook off the feeling moments after. Renny then hopped out from Renge's bag that had lain haplessly on the ground the entire time.

"Literature, this time you _have to_ talk to him face-to-face and give him the support he needs! No notes this this time, he needs more than an anonymous supporter!" Renny reasoned, flapping his wings towards the still unconscious Shigeru.

Literature pursed her lip and looked towards Shigeru. She never would never have expected to talk to Shigeru ever again, let alone attempt to become his friend. But Renny was right, Shigeru needed a companion now more than ever. So, when Shigeru came to, he uncovered Renge sitting beside him on a chair and Kanari standing over him while he was on the floor. He rose up very slowly, in a quite composed manner as he mentally tried to figure out what had happened.

"Kotori, what you doing here?" Shigeru asked after a long period of silence.

"Kanari and I were told to come down to the library 'cause we heard some weird noises. But we don't know if anything happened." Renge lied.

"Okada said that it was a demo clip from a video but we weren't too sure…" Kanari added.

"Oh…" Shigeru responded listlessly.

"Uhm, Endo, was there any reason as to why you were in the library?" Renge then asked.

Shigeru blinked for a couple of moments, trying to remember just what he was doing there.

Eventually he answered her, having remembered him reason," I skipped just to see the college fair by myself. It made me feel weird when I looked at all these colleges and I guess I was getting so stressed out I fainted."

"Lots of choices huh?" Renge said with a half-smirk. Shigeru nodded and just simply looked down. Renge could tell how lost he appeared, and made her feel bad for not saying anything before.

"Um, Endo..this might sound a little strange but..you have friends right?" Renge asked shakily, avoiding all eye-contact with Shigeru.

Then he did something that Renge wasn't expecting at all; he smirked and he gave her a questionable look.

"They all kinda go to different schools. So don't worry, if I seem like a loner to you, I get it." Shigeru answered, sounding as if he was prepared to answer this question.

"But, I've lost a lot of friends in favour of others, and then lost those friends after some things. It's as if I've reverted to my first year self."

"Well, if you really wanted a friend at this school…actually no. Endo, I want to be your friend, do you want to be friends with me?" Renge, sounding much more serious than usual.

Shigeru didn't even seem surprised. He did appear very much grateful for Renge's offer, yet he still appear to be a little hesitant, not giving her a response immediately.

"Sure.." He answered, in his typical, indifferent, uninterested tone. Renge had a giant smile painted onto her face. He said yes! Not enthusiastically, but that was the best she was going to get out of him. She helped him up and the three of them walked back to class.

But, once they reached the classroom, the bell for club time rang and everyone scrambled out from the classroom.

"Oops.." Renge and Kanari said in unison as they watched their classmates exit the room.

"Whatever, I've got Wood-shop club to go to. I'll see you guys tonight.." Shigeru disclosed as he headed off to his club.

"T-tonight?!" Renge stammered, her face red and her body now shaking.

"At the college fair?" Shigeru and Kanari reminded the blushing girl. Shigeru smiled at that and waved to the girls.

"Later.." Shigeru called out quietly.

"Later." Renge waved back feeling satisfied with herself for the day.

During Art club, Renge was immersed in her project and lost track of time. By the end of club, Renge found herself stuck with a great amount of things she had to carry back to her locker. But it was too much! Paint bottles, paint brushes, her pencil box, her binder from last class, not to mention her piece. It would've taken her two trips for her to bring this all to her locker and she didn't have that kind of time. She looked around to see if there was anyone left in the class to be of aid to her. Thankfully, she found someone.

"Ah, Nao!" Renge called out to the boy who was gathering his own things. He didn't have much to carry compared to Renge.

He looked over to her and waited for her to say something more. She felt a little odd, this was her first time calling out Nao's name.

"Do you think you could carry my books to my locker for me?" She asked sheepishly, gesturing with her hands full that she could use the help.

"Sure." Nao responded quietly as he took her books from the top of the table. The two walked back to her locker in silence, with Renge stealing stares of him almost too frequently that she may as well have looking at him the entire time.

"He's actually kinda good-looking, why didn't I notice him last year? Or maybe I did and just pushed the thought to the back of my mind…" Renge thought. They reached Renge's locker and Nao handed her all of her binders as she put the contents in her hands on the floor.

"Thanks!" Renge rejoiced in gratitude as she took her stuff from Nao. He nodded and left, waving a single wave to Renge.

Renge waved back, feeling her heart flutter in a way she hadn't felt in a long time.


	5. Why hello there, Topher

A few days had passed since that last attack from Temptation and the girls took full advantage of this time away from their Pretty Cure duties. Renge was kicking it into high gear despite the fact it was still September and Kanari was too busy rekindling the flames of friendship she had with all of her old friends. It felt so effortless for the both of them to continue on with their regular lives as if all those attacks from Temptation never happened. Both girls were quite grateful for that since they both shared this implicit, sinking feeling that these normal easy-going days weren't going to last. One day, during the afternoon, Renge was painting her nails a very bright shade of red as she was taking a break from her homework when a letter enclosed in a lime green and sparkly envelope flew in through her bedroom window. For some reason, likely because she was a magical girl and apparently talking birds were a thing, this didn't actually surprise her in the least. Holding it closed was what appeared to a peridot in the center of the envelope. Renge walk over to the envelope laying on the floor of her room and gingerly picked it up, holding it up to the light.

"Is it from Univer City?" She asked Renny, who too was looking at the envelope curiously.

"I don't know, do letters here in the human world fly into your windows too?" Renny questioned naively. The question itself sounded pretty sarcastic, but because it was Renny, she was aware of the fact that he was genuinely asking this question, not actually knowing himself.

"Ok, it's probably from Univer City.." Renge declared as she opened up the envelope. Inscribed onto the page was the most beautiful calligraphy drafted in dark green ink that Renge had ever seen and it was just such a pleasure to look at she couldn't even focus to actually read the letter. But she did manage to read the greeting of the letter.

"To Renny..." Her reading came to a halt when she realized this wasn't for her. She muttered a 'here you go' as she handed the letter over to the actual recipient of this message.

"To Renny, as it appears...things aren't looking so hot here in Univer City, well, actually things are getting worse gradually. Without the book, we aren't able to maintain and acquire all the knowledge we've yet to find, so the libraries as well as the schools are suffering. The College ended up closing down for now, at least until this whole thing blows over, so now I've got nothing to do here, heh. But, the Headmistress put me on the same job as you, which is pretty cool, I guess. So when you receive this letter and finish reading it, I'll be right over. Your brother, Topher." Renny read.

Just then, the envelope dissipated into the air like a puff of smoke, which actually took the place of the letter and out from the puff of smoke appeared a green toucan with dark brown eyes peering around the room with curious intent.

"Topher.." Renny greeted, sounding a little hesitant and a little incredulous as he looked over to the toucan. The toucan eyed the room with suspicion as Renny flew over to him. Topher glowered to the pale scarlet colored walls and all the embarrassing looking posters Renge took pride in. This was what they called...anime, right? He jumped a little when he took a glance at Renge's computer desk, crowded and strangely over-populated by figures and needless objects. The only redeeming thing Renge's room had to offer in Topher's eyes was her humble little bookcase hidden in the corner of the room, stacked and flowing over with loads of books, but a good half of them belong to that anime demographic, or..wasn't it called Manga in book form? He took a look at the ground he was stepping on and realized it was a rug, a dirty one at that. He pulled out his talons in disgust and shook it all these feelings of revulsion he had in him right now.

"So, uh..this is the Pretty Cure?" Topher then asked as he stared at Renge in an expecting manner. Renny nodded his head vigorously as he awaited Topher's approval. Topher gave her a head-to-toe examination before saying anything more.

"Well, she certainly is a teenage girl.." Topher observed, giving Renny a thumbs, er, feathers up,"But after all this time, you only found one?"

"No, there's two of us!" Renge claimed, shaking her head once swiftly and holding up two fingers,"Do you want me to text her and tell her to come over?"

"Do please." Topher replied almost imperatively while he proceeded to look at his surroundings. He then looked at Renge with his eyes wide and in shock. He then asked her,

"Is that what phones look like in this world?" He squawked in disbelief as he looked at Renge typing against the screen. Her Aiphone was stilling wearing that Mellow Kitty of hers. She then showed him the 'phone side' of her Aiphone.

"Cute right?" Renge winked as she stuck her tongue out a bit. That phone was a lot of things to Topher, and cute wasn't one of them. If anything, it reminded him of one of his friends back home, and it was just so odd looking at a caricature of someone he knew being tapped against like that.

After a few minutes, Kanari appeared through her favourite entrance in Renge's house, her window.

"Man, a lot of things have been appearing through my window today..." Renge remarked, sounding a little frustrated," And can you please take your boots off! They're covered in mud!"

Renny and Topher shared Renge's disgust towards Kanari's filthy boots and watched with disdain as the girl recklessly took them off, hopping on one foot as she attempted to stay balance as she took off one shoe.

"So, you wanted me over?" Kanari asked once her boots came off. Topher noticed Kanari was an unusual feat, even for Univer City's standards. Her untidy, long snow-white hair was what first grabbed his attention. It was quite reminiscent of Temptasia, or at least what he heard of Temptasia. But if this girl was a Pretty Cure, than chances of her being a villain were very, very slim. Her shorts were all wrinkled and the ends of her sweater's sleeves were all tattered. Her hood was up, as usual and she finally looked down to Topher, now intrigued by the appearance of yet another bird in Renge's room.

"This one talk too?" Kanari asked as she kneeled down in front of Topher.

"Yeah, Kanari meet Topher, Renny's...older brother..?" Renge introduced, making how unsure she was of that last part audible with her tone of voice.

"Younger!" Renny corrected sounding a little annoyed," But...only by a year. Alright, ten months." Renge's chin rested on her fist as she wondered if that meant they were Irish twins, they were birds so would that term be usable for them?

"And Topher, meet Cure Arithmetic, also known as Kanari." Renge introduced as she gestured her arms towards Kanari.

"So, this is _the_ Pretty Cure of Math?" Topher interrogated as he stepped closer to Kanari.

"Guilty." Kanari plainly responded as she shrugged her shoulders.

"And I'm Cure Literature!" Renge commented, but Topher paid no heed to her.

Renny then tried to comfort the slightly fazed Renge," It's ok. See, he's more into the formulaic studies like Math and Science. While I prefer Literature and History."

"How much do you understand about being a Pretty Cure of Math?" Topher asked as he narrowed his eyes at Kanari.

"Well, I don't know.. But a better question would be..." Kanari began as she folded her arms,"..What kinda question is that?"

Renge furrowed her eyebrows at she watched this stare-off between Topher and Kanari, it was getting a little weird, that much she'd admit. Then, Renge was quickly reminded of something.

"Wait, you said you in the letter you were in college." Renge pointed out," When you said college, did you mean, like...college college?"

"I'm not even sure what _you_ mean by college college." Topher responded in a deadpan tone.

"Like, post-secondary.." Renge restated, wondering if that was sufficient enough for him to respond to as she and Kanari anticipated his response.

"Yes." Topher replied with a firm nod of the head, seeming quite smug.

"He's only a first-year.." Renny whispered to the girls as he waved a wing in dismissal.

"But it's it's the best college in all of Univer City!" Topher claimed, flapping his wings madly.

"But then, if he's a first year in college, then does that make him..." Renge thought aloud as she counted on her fingers.

"...Only a year older than us, in human years?" Kanari finished questioningly. That was quite a strange thought. And then, that would supposedly mean Renny was actually _two_ years older than her! Now that seemed even stranger.

"But wait…." Kanari interjected, drawing the word wait out longer than intended," Just what _are_ bird years in comparison to human years~?"

"You know, they aren't actual birds right..?" Renge muttered to Kanari as the two birds in the room stared at them.

"Wait, for real?" Kanari twitted, eyes wide with total surprise," So then if that's the case, what are-?"

"Fairies!" The two birds, or alleged fairies interrupted in unison. Neither Renge or Kanari really liked the use of the term fairy for regarding what species Renny and Topher, so they both made a mental note to address them as fairies aloud only.

"But, going back to our little understanding of being a Pretty Cure of Math…" Kanari sneered as she sat her cross-legged on Renge's bed. Renge took a seat as well, but instead of sitting on her bed, she was on her computer chair and appeared to already be tired of Kanari and Topher's debate.

"It's a title that only a woman of superior intellect in the field of Math can own." Topher declared as he crossed his wings together.

"Oh really, and if that's the case…then who the hell do you think you're talking to?" Kanari asked in a voice fit for challenging someone with.

Topher caught her unspoken challenge,"So it's a battle of wits you're proposing?"

"Not wits in particular," Kanari answered," More like a Math-off."

"Math-off…?" Renge and Renny repeated whilst cringing.

"Well, where are we going to get the problems from our Math-off from?" Topher asked. Kanari then held her index finger up to him, gesturing to him wait while she removed something out from her bag. Out from her bag she pulled out a colossal blue, black and gold textbook entitled _Mathatholics: A Grade two_ _–_ _University level Math textbook._

"Why and where do get you this kind of stuff?" Renge asked as she glared at the Math textbook. Unlike Kanari, Renge wasn't all too adept in the field of Math. In fact the thought of just spectating their math-off made Renge's heart lurch.

"For challenges like this!" Kanari proclaimed as she struck a finger in Topher's direction.

"But wait…" Renge interrupted, realizing something crucial to this challenge missing. Kanari and Topher flashed her impatient looks as they stopped flipping through the textbook.

"….Isn't Topher going to have some difficulty writing?" Renge pointed out. The two girls looked down and Topher and his wings, Kanari's frowning a little once she realized her unfair advantage. Topher seemed a little irritated by Renge's observation and picked up the half-sized pen beside him, demonstrating that he had no issues writing with his wing.

"Any wing, any day." Topher concluded.

"Then I'm going to do odd questions, you do the even ones." Kanari instructed. Topher nodded in agreement. Kanari then took out her phone and opened the stopwatch app. After a few seconds, the Math-off commenced. The two of them were so focused it scared Renny a little, and Renge had only ever seen Kanari like this a couple times in her life. She was in her 'Mathari' mode, a mode that was used only for things like Math exams and studying for said Math exams. Gosh, these two went through so many pages and so many sticks of lead so quickly this challenging was almost becoming interesting to Renge. But then again, it was Math and neither of the competitors even said a word aside from the occasional grunt as they continued their Math-off.

So Renny and Renge decided to engage in conversation.

"So what did Kanari make you do when you lost the bet?" Renny whispered, his eyes still on Topher and Kanari.

"She's making me buy her her beloved French vanilla coffee for two months.." Renge whispered with a slight groan.

"That's rough." Renny grimaced.

"I'm gonna be so broke by the time she's done with me!" Renge whined, still whispering.

"Hey you can't turn the page yet! I'm still on my last question!" Kanari hollered as she tried to turn the page back. Topher fought to keep the page on his side.

"Too bad for you! I'm not flipping the page!" Topher yelled as he struggled against Kanari's push.

Renge watched them unimpressed while Renny hid his face behind his feathers.

"Oh for goodness' sakes…" Renny moaned as the two began to squabble," Topher, say how can a clam cram in a clean cream can?"

Topher did as told,"How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?" And just then, another puff of smoke appeared. The girls coughed a bit and shut their eyes, waiting for the smoke to disappear. In Topher's original spot stood a boy who was tall with dark brown skin and lime green hair with the same dark eyes Topher had. He wore a pale green dress shirt under a crocodile green sweater vest along with dark grey dress pants. He blinked for a few moments and looked just as confused as the girls were. Then he looked down at himself and seemed to realize just what had happened.

"I can't believe I didn't realize that was a tongue-twister." The boy complained, his voice not too deep but not high like Topher's.

Renny laughed awkwardly and just brushed off that little comment.

"Is this Topher?" Renge asked in bewilderment as she gawked at the partially clad in green boy.

"But how did this happen?" Kanari questioned, stunned with just how tall Topher was.

"The tongue-twister." Renny asked, leading the girls to be even more confused. So, Renny did some more explaining.

"Whenever Topher recites a tongue-twister, he transforms into a human." Renny explained.

The idea of Topher being able to turn human made Renge wonder if Renny could turn human as well.

"So Topher, you don't like being human?" Kanari asked.

"That's not it, I just have better focus when I'm a bird." Topher bluntly responded.

"That's really strange." Renge blurted out.

"And it makes no sense." Kanari mentioned.

"Well, every time Topher's in his human form, he becomes a little vain.." Renny said sheepishly.

"Do not!" Topher shouted.

"Renge has a mirror in her closet." Renny mentioned flatly. Everyone waited patiently to see what Topher's next move would be. He stood still for a few moments and then made a made dash to Renge's closet. The inside of her closet did indeed hold a mirror, however the closet was overflowing with useless junk Renge stockpiled for seemed like ages. Topher scowled at the sight but then turned his over to the mirror. There seemed to be a few finger smudges on it and therefore unclean, but for once that didn't matter. As long as he could see his face in human form, not a lot mattered at all.

Topher was drawn to his own reflection and proved Renny's statement to be true. Renge snickered at the oddity occurring in her bedroom, meanwhile Kanari seemed to grow impatient again.

"Hey! We were having a Math-off! Remember?" Kanari reminded as she snapped her fingers beside Topher.

"Right!" Topher exclaimed gallantly as he and Kanari made their way back to the textbook.

"Renge you're being too-!" Hikaru suddenly grumbled loudly as he walked in without even knocking. His eyes were closed at the beginning of his sentence but when he opened them, he completed his sentence in confusion and astonishment.

"…loud."

The group looked at Hikaru fearfully, all feeling as if their hearts just stopped. Hikaru was speechless and only stared wide-eyed at Topher in human form while an awkward silence fell over the room.

"Renge, where the heck did this guy come from?!" Hikaru shouted, unnerved by whatever antics his sister was apparently up to.

"I…." Renge trailed off, silently cursing herself for being so unprepared for this scenario.

"He's my long lost best friend!" Kanari blurted out.

"Christ I thought Renge was your long lost best friend." Hikaru stated in a deadpan tone.

"I never lost Renge, she's always lived five doors down." Kanari rectified.

"So, does your long lost best friend have a name?" Hikaru questioned.

"Well duh!" Kanari responded as she stuck her tongue out at him," It's… Topher Toriumi."

Renny, Renge and Topher all had daggers in their eyes while looking at Kanari, severely upset that she couldn't think of a better name and that she actually used his real name.

"Well, is he seeing someone?" Hikaru asked awkwardly as he looked away and stretched his arm over behind his head. Everyone in the room was taken aback by his question and Kanari was just about to welcome him to the fun side, just before Renge threw her arms around him.

"Come here you!" Renge gushed affectionately while Hikaru pushed her to the side.

"That's not what I meant!" He growled before clearing his throat,"...I have a, triple-date to attend.."

Kanari held her hand up to her mouth and watched Renge short-circuit at the usage of the word date.

"D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-date?!" Renge stuttered, having this mixture of pure rage and despair coating her voice.

Hikaru answered,"Yeah, and we're one man short. So could he possibly-?"

"-And just exactly _who_ is the girl _you're_ taking?!" Renge interrogated, her protective and sisterly side appearing from nowhere.

"Her name is Eri, we're just going as friends, it's my buddy Yuki who's trying to get with this girl Hisoka...but he got stuck being paired with this other girl, Satomi. Satomi really likes him, but Yuki isn't feeling it.." Hikaru explained.

"So it's a love triangle they've got going on..." Renge noted with a sheepish giggle.

"I guess, so can Topher go?" Hikaru asked.

"Well, only if Topher's wants to..." Renge decided as she and everyone in the room had their eyes on Topher. Topher looked up from the ground he was glowering into and found himself in an uncomfortable position. So, he kinda zoned out a bit when Hikaru started talking, but he did get the part about the triple-date..which didn't sound so interesting to Topher. But just then, he caught a glimpse of Hikaru's eyes that were looking so pleading. It wasn't necessarily like a child or anything but looking at Hikaru at that moment kinda made him think of himself, for reasons he wasn't too sure of.

"Ok.." Topher finalized, appearing a tad unsure and even a little reluctant on his decision.

"Yes!" Hikaru cheered as he pumped a fist into the air," Ok, so..date's tonight at Pizza Perfection and...well, I'd say try and look nice, but there's no need to."

"Wait, your date's tonight? When tonight? And don't you have homework?" Renge probed as Hikaru began to exit from the room.

"All done, and it's in about a hour.." Hikaru said as he closed the door. When he slammed the door shut, everyone then turned their focus on Topher.

"He only has an hour before his date!" Kanari cried, likely more fretful about the situation then Topher himself.

"Don't worry, it's just a triple-date between a bunch of first years! Everything should be fine...hopefully." Renge assured, though she didn't sound too sure at all.

"Has Topher ever even _been on a date?!_ " Kanari wailed as she held her head in her hand with dismay. Renge looked over to Topher momentarily, seeing if Topher had any extrinsic clues regarding whether or not he had ever been on a date. Even though he was handsome in human form, that meant just about nothing in regards to his dating experience. And judging by that clueless look on his face, it didn't seem likely that he already had his first date, either that, or that first date of his didn't go well.

"Well, have you?" Renge questioned calmly.

"Of course I have! They've just been kinda...awkward." Topher answered in a stiff but blunt tone.

"But he should be ok regardless, after all Renge's brother explained that the girl Topher's going with is attracting that boy Yuki. So, if Topher doesn't act interested, maybe the girl will notice Yuki." Renny explained.

"What I don't get is why Yuki didn't go with Hisoka or whatever her name is in the first place." Kanari expressed.

"I'm guessing Satomi's kinda clingy..." Renge stated. Kanari then realized that their Math-off was incomplete and now they couldn't find out who was the better out of the two now, or could they? They were going to Pizza Perfection and luckily for Kanari, she knew somebody there who would be fine with her causing a bit of mischief down there.

After half an hour, Hikaru threw open Renge's door and snatched Topher away from them. Hikaru wasn't dressed as nicely as expected, but at least he wasn't going on the date in his uniform. His plain navy jeans and t-shirt seemed to tell Renge that this event was in truth more casual than Hikaru originally depicted it to be for Topher. Or maybe he wanted Topher to dress nicely so that Yuki would feel more initiative to win Hisoka's heart. Or something.

"You know..." Kanari started playfully,"...It would be fun to see how Topher and Hikaru's date goes..."

"No way, I could never do that to him." Renge declared," He didn't spy on me on my first date, and I don't intend to do anything like that to him."

Just then, Renge's stomach rumbled very, very loudly. It startled Renny and made Kanari chuckle devilishly. Renge blushed and looked down in humiliation as Kanari began to speak again.

"Ah, I see...you wouldn't go 'cuz you don't want to spy on your brother huh? Ok, I understand, but what about that stomach of yours, howling for a quality meal? And if memory serves, today is Thursday, and that means your parents aren't going to be able to make dinner tonight because they'll be too busy at work. So then what's it going to be tonight? Left-overs, cereal or pizza?"

Kanari literally sounded like the devil when she uttered the word pizza

Renge groaned as she had to hear her stomach grumble yet again while trying to come to a decision. After another gigantic grumble, Renge finally reached a decision.

"Fine I'll go!" She caved," But only for the pizza and absolutely not to mess with the date!"

Kanari grinned a massive grin and the two followed along to Pizza Perfection shortly after Topher and Hikaru.

The restaurant was very big, granted it was a rather well-known and successful establishment. Tables and booths were all over the place and there quite a few people seated tonight, but not as many as one would expect. Probably because everyone ventured to ordering-in. By the time Renge and Kanari walked into the restaurant, it was nearing close to nightfall when it wasn't all that dark outside but at this point all the lights would be on indoors. Kanari went off to the bathroom in a suspicious fashion and Renge was seated right by a window and far enough to be unseen by Hikaru and his group.

Two girls just walked in and sat themselves at Hikaru's table. One girl had dark blue hair with copper brown eyes that seemed eternally skeptic while the other had straight auburn hair that flowed to her back and maroon eyes that seemed extraordinarily anxious.

"Hey, we're here." The girl with dark blue hair greeted flatly as she as she down in front of Hikaru.

"We can see that." Hikaru responded, sounding just as flat as the dark haired girl," Anyhow, Hisoka..this is Topher. Topher, meet Hisoka."

"Hi." Topher casually greeted. Hisoka's eyes met with Topher and she instantly turned beet red.

"I-I-I-It's a pleasure t-t-t-t-t-to m-meet you..." Hisoka stammered anxiously back. Yuki rolled his eyes at their greeting and took out his phone to text somebody.

Hikaru felt his phone buzz in his pocket and so he took it out. He received a text from Yuki.

 _"Man, Hiso's so not into this guy. I mean, I feel bad for him lol jk no I don't."_

Hikaru flashed Yuki a questioning look as the boy ran a hand through his thick curly brown hair arrogantly.

"Where'd you find this guy?" The dark-haired girl whispered to Hikaru," He's really cute.."

"Eri, you're my date.." Hikaru reminded her,"...My sister's friend knows this guy."

"So what do we all want to order?" Yuki asked as he held up his menu.

"Damn it, just where did Kanari go~?" Renge griped quietly as she looked over the menu impatiently, not because she was indecisive, but rather because she already knew what she wanted to have and couldn't handle ordering on her own. While she was pretending to decide on what she should have, she didn't notice the waiter standing right in front of her.

"Hi, my name's Tamotsu and I'll be your waiter for tonight." The waiter greeted, in a tone Renge found genuinely friendly. Tall, dark and handsome were just a few good words to describe this man. He had a nice smile as well and dressed in the somewhat casual uniform the waiters of Pizza Perfection got to wear; a dark red t-shirt with black pants.

"H-hi, I'll have the Vegetarian deluxe pizza w-with a cup of cream soda..." Renge ordered nervously.

While the waiter wrote down Renge's order, he asked her," Boyfriend running late?"

"Huh? No I'm just here by myself.." Renge responded feeling safe to say Kanari wasn't going to return.

Tamotsu chuckled," I see. So, a Vegetarian deluxe with a cup of cream soda?"

Renge nodded, feeling a whole lot less nervous around the waiter.

"It'll be ready soon." Tamotsu declared as he walked off to the kitchen.

Hikaru's group were all decided on what they wanted to order and all that was left was to be waited on.

"Where'd that girl who brought us to our table go to?" Hikaru asked.

"I haven't see her in a while..." Topher commented.

"So, Toph..how old are you?" Yuki asked in brash, yet casual manner.

"Nineteen." Topher responded uninterestedly.

Satomi, who had been latching herself onto Yuki's arm the entire time let out a tiny gasp and Hisoka just stared as Topher in surprise.

"So, you're in college then right?" Yuki asked.

"Yeah, I'm studying business." Topher replied, sounding even more uninterested as he looked over the menu. He only added in that last part to shut Yuki up for a couple seconds more.

"Business huh?" Yuki repeated," That's cool, I plan on getting entrance in through a baseball scholarship." He only said this not to just to brag about his skills, but to make Hisoka feel some kind of attraction towards him.

"Didn't even know they _had_ baseball scholarships," Topher mumbled just before their waitress came. Standing in front of them was Kanari, wearing the uniform that all the waiters and waitress who worked at Pizza Perfection wore, holding a notepad as if she worked here. Some of them recognized her from school while others, ie Hikaru and Topher looked at her in disbelief and doubt.

"Hi, I'm Kanari and I'll be your waitress for tonight. So has everyone made their decision?" Kanari asked cheerfully. Everyone looked at her as if she was the most unprofessional waitress they had ever seen in their entire life. But one really couldn't blame them, considering Kanari exchanged the black pants for a pair of shorts plus her uniform shirt was incredibly baggy on her. Not to mention her height didn't help her case at all.

After a really long stare-session, Yuki was the first to place an order," I'll have the Tuscan pizza with extra chicken and a..."

Yuki looked at Hisoka instead Satomi for what she wanted. As Hisoka simply looked down submissively and tugged on her sleeves, she murmured softly,

"I have a Hawaiian please."

Everyone else placed their orders and as they did, Satomi was giving Yuki a deathly glare.

"Ok, So I have one Cheese, a Hawaiian, Tuscan extra chicken and three Go hards. Is that correct?" Kanari asked. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Great, but before I put the order in, I'm going to need the gentleman in green to calculate how much that'll be in total because...I don't have a calculator on me." Kanari grinned wildly.

Topher wasn't caught off-guard at all, already doing the math in his head.

"Well, If the three Go hards were 7.99 plus tax making it 8.78 each and the Tuscan was 7.68 and the Hawaiian was 7.68 as well and the cheese pizza was 5.48, tax included on those last three, it should come up to 47.18." Topher calculated. As Topher said this all aloud, Kanari was doing the math on her notepad and just caught up to him on the answer.

"And what about drinks?" Kanari questioned, bordering on hysteria.

"What does everyone want?" Topher asked, raising his voice slightly. They answered quickly, being startled by Topher and his appetite for problem-solving.

Topher answered,"So two colas costing 2.76 plus tax each, one root beer costing 3.21 plus tax, and three orange sodas costing 9.41 plus tax altogether should equal...18.14!"

"What about combined?!" Kanari urged.

"65.32!" Topher shouted.

Kanari hated to admit it, but she was running out of math questions, having come without her large textbook. She tossed her pen down angrily and clenched her teeth as she left to place the order for them.

"You win for now..." She cursed silently. Everyone at the table was stunned with what transpired, and they all stared at Topher looking absolutely amazed. Topher looked down at the table looking a little aloof himself. That wasn't even hard. What was Kanari trying to prove, making him do basic fourth-grade math in front of these first-years?

Hikaru and Eri seemed quite impressed, as did Satomi but she hid how impressed she was with some avail. Hisoka looked at him apprehensively and Yuki just appeared to have had enough of this.

"Well, that sure was something. So, Hisoka...I need to ask you, who do you want to be your man? Because I know well that want to be yours.." Yuki declared sincerly as he looked directly into Hisoka's eyes.

"I...wh..what?" Hisoka choked out helplessly.

"Do you want to be with the brainiac or me?" Yuki calmly asked.

"I...I...I'm going to the washroom.." Hisoka reported as she got up from her seat, feeling her cheeks get hot and her eyes stinging with tears being held back. Eri followed after her and so did Kanari, after watching them pass the kitchen to head to the washroom.

"I don't get it, you've had a bunch of boyfriends during middle-school, why is it so different now?" Eri asked in differently as Hisoka wiped her eyes with dispensed paper towels .

Hisoka sighed loudly,"Because everyone is getting serious about it! It's scaring me and I don't want go through high-school like this. Besides, I never liked any of those boys in middle school. For years, everyone's been under the impression that I'm some kinda unattainable princess that only goes out with guys to mess with them. I can't take living like this anymore, I shouldn't have to!"

"You are absolutely right." The girls heard a voice comment," No girl should ever have to go through such torment, especially at your age."

From the corner of their eyes, they saw a reflection of someone they were unable to identify. They turned towards the mirror and from there they saw Zephora looking in the direction of the girls with her eyes closed as usual. Zephora walked out of the mirror and gave Eri and Hisoka quite the scare.

"Wh-wh-who are you?!" Hisoka shrieked.

"Your savior." Zephora answered, sounding cold, kind and untrustworthy all at the same time. Hisoka took a step back and bumped into the door of a stall. Zephora then came closer to Hisoka and brought forth a mirror in front of Hisoka.

"What the hell do you think your doing?!" Eri shouted as she tried to punch Zephora. Zephora paid no heed to her and threw her across the room with the flick of her wrist. And after that moment, Zephora had obtained Hisoka's Inner Scholar. She smiled down to it and fused it with one of the sinks from the washroom.

"Delinquous!" The sink cried out.

Kanari had been standing in the corner the entire time, feeling completely shameful for not doing anything prior to Hisoka getting her Inner Scholar taken away. Deciding now was not the time to feel shameful, she grabbed her Fountain Pen of Knowledge out of her shirt pocket.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" She yell-whispered. The usual array of blue lights did appear but they weren't as blinding as usual.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic announced. She was impressed that she was able to transform despite not yelling out her transformation phrase. The Delinquous stomped out of the washroom, breaking down a wall in the process and went off in pursuit of something to destroy. Arithmetic followed shortly after and began to search for Renge within the restaurant.

Renge had just finished her pizza, feeling very satisfied with her dinner and suddenly heard the Delinquous' deafening cries. She spun her head around in the direction she heard it from and watched as the Delinquous pushed tables recklessly out of it's way.

"Not on my watch." Renge declared as she held out her pen.

"Yuki, do something!" Satomi cried defenselessly from the top of the booth seat while clinging onto Yuki like a koala. The Delinquous had stumbled upon them and had began to attack them.

Yuki hollered in terror," What am I supposed to do?!"

"I don't know! You're a baseball player, go find something to use as a bat and beat the life out of it!" Satomi demanded as she held on to Yuki tighter.

"Damn, you're a total savage!" Yuki shouted incredulously.

Hikaru and Topher were hiding under a table that remained untouched by the Delinquous, with Hikaru curled up into a ball and Topher watching the Delinquous from underneath the tablecloth.

"So these are the Delinquouses..." Topher remarked as he bit his lip.

"Not so fast!" Cure Arithmetic shouted from the top of a table. The Delinquous turned around to see where the voice had came from and looked at Arithmetic, registering her as an opponent.

The Delinquous then ripped a booth seat out from it's spot and threw it to Arithmetic, who thankfully ducked before the booth made contact with her. Feeling her heart begin to race, she looked at the Delinquous and snickered.

"Feisty one, aren't ya?"

The Delinquous then lunged for the table Arithmetic was sitting on and before he could make the blue Cure tumble to her feet, she jumped up high with no sense of direction as to where her feet were taking her. She then found herself coming on a collision course with a nearby chandelier and so her first instinct was to grab on it. It was quite the enigma as to how the chandelier was able to hold Arithmetic but instead of pondering how such a thing was possible, she just thanked the heavens for letting her being able to hang from the decoration.

"Bring the chandelier down." Arithmetic heard what sounded a lot like the woman from the washroom demand. She tried her hardest without falling to see just where the voice had came from and she found, sitting on the ring of the other chandelier in the room, surrounded by an encirclement of beads was Zephora.

"So, another baddie from Temptation huh?" Arithmetic panted out, trying to hold for dear life.

The Delinquous then ripped the chandelier down from the ceiling as told, causing Arithmetic to plummet down with no clue of what was going to become of her.

Instead of feeling as if every bone in her body was broken, she simply felt a little sore. She looked beneath her to see just what had broke her fall. Underneath the blue Cure was Topher, looking pretty crushed under the weight of Arithmetic.

"Your days of destruction are over!" Literature decreed in front of Arithmetic.

"T-topher, are you alright?" Arithmetic asked nervously as she slowly rose up off of him.

"Never better.." He assured, though his voice was a little muffled as his head was against the carpet.

The two Cures exchanged glances as if mentally bouncing off ideas regarding what next to do. Literature then motioned Arithmetic to stay put for a few more moments as she darted up to the Delinquous a delivered a powerful kick to it.

The Delinquous fell backward and into a table, snapping it in half. Satomi squealed a little while Yuki was just too frightened to even speak. The Delinquous shot straight up back to it's feet and a one-on-one fight between Literature and the Delinquous began. They were both wearing each other down but Literature's energy seemed to be depleting even quicker compared to the Delinquous. For a second, Literature faltered and just when she thought she was going to get knocked out, Arithmetic jumped onto the Delinquous.

"Hey, she's not your only opponent here!" Arithmetic reminded, still atop of the Delinquous.

"Nice job, Arithmetic.." Literature saluted between gasps for breath.

After witnessing the one-on-one, Arithmetic and Topher were able to decipher just where the Delinquouses weak point was. After a moment, once Arithmetic leapt off the Delinquous, Topher cried out,

"The weak spot is-!"

"I know where it is!" Arithmetic shot back as she stared at the Delinquous with determination. She concentrated for a moment and she began to dash up to Delinquous who then decided to dash towards her. Before the two ran into each other, Arithmetic delivered a punch to the Delinquous' side of it's center. It fell down again and looked as if it was going to get up any time soon. Topher watched intently at Arithmetic and took note of how precise her attack really was. Something told him that she measured the trajectory of her hit and gauge just the right amount of power need to topple the Delinquous down without having to over-exert herself. Maybe, just maybe...she really did understand what it meant to be a Pretty Cure of math.

"Yes, now's my chance!" Arithmetic exclaimed.

"Ah, ah." Literature said as she stood in front of her," You did it last time. It's my turn now."

Arithmetic stuck her tongue out," Fine."

Literature faced the Delinquous and shouted out," Pretty Cure, Language of Justice!"

The Delinquous has been cleansing and Hisoka's cyan lemon coloured Inner Scholar found it's way back to Hisoka. As Arithmetic and Literature dusted themselves off, Topher approached Arithmetic.

"I didn't expect that from you..." Topher stated timidly.

"Don't worry, I don't blame ya~" Arithmetic giggled,"..But...what're are we going to do about _this?_ "

The three of them looked at the mess around them, the restaurant was in shambles. Literature felt her heart sink as she looked at the mess her, Arithmetic and the Delinquous made. Now, this was going to need a really good explanation.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan." Topher informed reassuringly. Arithmetic looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face and in return, she received a look from Topher that said, 'Trust me'.

They walked up to the table that had been snapped in half by the Delinquous. Arithmetic felt a wave of guilt come over her when she looked down to the table.

"Do you have an attack used specifically for attacking Delinquouses?" Topher asked.

"Yeah, Geometric Frenzy." Arithmetic answered.

"Use the attack." Topher told her, resulting in an even more confused look from her.

"Are you sure?" Arithmetic asked. Topher simply nodded and so Arithmetic did as told.

"Pretty Cure, Geometric Frenzy!" She called out. An electric blue circle appeared from nowhere and turned into an isometric figure that put together the broken table.

"Whoa, I didn't know it,or..I could do that!" Arithmetic marveled. Topher smirked and the two of them began to fix things in the restaurant together. After about twenty minutes, the restaurant was as good as new.

After the ordeal, Hikaru's group reassembled, minus Topher who chose to turn back into his fairy form, being so exhausted from being a human for so long. Hikaru was the first of his group to notice Topher's absence.

"What happened to Topher?" Hikaru questioned Kanari.

"Flew south for the winter?" Kanari responded, hoping her answer would be enough to explain Topher's sudden absence.

Hikaru looked at her seeming very skeptic but then decided to forget about it for now.

"So now that the brainiac's gone, I guess your only choice is me Hisoka.." Yuki declared," Look, I've really liked you for awhile now and I think we'd be good for each other."

Hisoka looked at Yuki with disdain and felt just about ready to snap. She narrowed her eyes at him and said,

"Well, I don't. I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in a relationship right now. Not with you, not with Topher, not with anyone! I don't want to be with anyone for awhile, at least, not like that. But, if you really do like me as you said, then I hope you're willing to stick around for longer as my friend because for now, I'm happy with being single and I don't need that to change anytime soon."

Watching from behind the booths, Kanari and Renge were silently cheering for Hisoka and were more than impressed that she stood up for herself like that.

"She reminds of a saying..." Kanari thought aloud. Renge looked at her and elbow-nudged her to tell which saying Hisoka reminded her of.

Kanari said," If she's easy to get, she won't be amazing. If she's amazing, she won't be easy to get."

Renge nodded in agreement and then noticed Kanari wearing the Pizza Perfection uniform. Looking at her curiously and skeptically Renge asked her,

"Why are you wearing that?"

Kanari looked to her outfit and giggled sheepishly,"..Secret..?"

"You didn't interfere with the date did you?" Renge shouted as she began to go off on a tangent about how ridiculous that was of her. Kanari just brushed off Renge's lecture with a few snickers and waves of dismissal, at least she got to challenge Topher a little more than she was hoping for.


	6. So, I've had my eye on this kid

Renge was in the midst of completing another project for Art club and was attempting to continue the conversation she was having with Nao. After a few days of getting to know him, she had to admit, he was much more interesting than she previously assumed. As the two talked, they managed to preform impressive feats such as gluing dried clay onto a bicycle and manipulate a piece of wire into the shape of a human figure. Not having to look Nao in the eye made Renge feel a little at ease, who was in fear of being submerged in a bottomless pool of green. For the most part, the Art club was always pretty quiet, considering most had decided to keep talking to a minimum as they worked. Renge's side however didn't quite follow suit. Marco was generally a loud person and the fact that he was prone to disrupting the class caused the teacher much distress. He had yet to call Marco out on this but his patience seemed to be wearing thin as he could be seen glaring daggers over at the boy whenever he said something controversial.

"So, of all mediums you could possibly choose from, just why did you pick _this?_ " Nao questioned, his voice expressing much more disbelief than his face would depict. He was referring to clay Renge had all bunched up in a pile beside her. The snow white clay had the ability to air-dry after twenty four hours and it was a somewhat odd variation of the average clay, considering it was as light as a feather when it dried and when formed into a ball when malleable, it could bounce at quite the impressive rate.

"First of all, the term "of all mediums" is actually quite limited here. It's a sculpture so I have to work with what I think suits this best. And a friend recommended it to me plus, for now, it's working in my favour." Renge explained.

Nao picked up one of the figures Renge created from the clay and seated it within his ivory hands while gawking at it incredulously.

"You call _this_ working in your favour?" He inquired with his eyebrows raised. His critiquing tone always had this tendency of sounding more light-hearted than his words really were. Actually, his critiquing tone was pretty much his normal tone considering he used it so much. Renge observed over the last few days that Nao's words may have carried a harsh ring with them, but he was only trying to help. He was candid yet cold, but something just told Renge there was more beneath the surface.

"Just give him back." Renge demanded with a playful undertone within her voice.

"No, I think I'll just use him on my project." Nao decided as he cupped the figure into his hands and away from Renge.

Frustrated, Renge lunged for her figure and Nao drew further away. She then decided to pelt the scrap pieces of her hardened clay at Nao. And then he began to pelt them back at her. The teacher than flashed them one of the stares he reserved for Marco. Renge giggled sheepishly while Nao just let free one last smirk before the both of them returned to their work.

"Well that was entertaining." Nao remarked as he handed Renge back her figure.

"Oh, shut up." Renge chided, holding back a grin. It was moments like that that were making her heart race like when he held her books for her a couple of weeks ago. Looking at Nao while he was unaware, she wondered if this budding crush could get anywhere. The two of them had been talking few about two weeks now and, he was a really interesting person. And, it seemed like, the feeling could be mutual. Or maybe it was just her. But, Nao usually wasn't this rowdy in class. He was most of the time a very silent individual, seemingly incapable of emoting. And while he wasn't necessarily flirting with Renge, he wasn't the silent individual he usually was around her. While it may have been a tease here and a complain there, it was still, something. Then a relentless question that Renge needed, or really just wanted, to ask him appeared into her brain, refusing to be forgotten until the question was asked. It was distressing her slightly as she felt her heart speed up and an uncomfortable rate and made her tint a little red at the thought. But, there were only five minutes left of class, she needed to ask now!

She took a deep breath and acted casually like before. Pretending nothing was bothering her in the slightest, she was calm and cleared her throat to grab Nao's attention. Taking one last breath, she asked internalizing her nervous feelings.

"Wanna work on our art projects after club tomorrow?" Renge asked hesitantly.

:"Sure." Nao responded plainly, no smiles, no reluctance, just a simple response with motives that were up for debate. He did at least look her in the eye when he responded, that felt like a step-up for Renge. But, realizing that he did say yes to spending some of his own time with her made her squee internally with sheer delight. Somehow, this felt too good to be true, or maybe Renge was over-thinking things again. Yeah, that must've been it. But, in order to talk more with Nao, Renge knew she had to devise some topics in her head now before their little meeting tomorrow.

She was thinking for a long while about this, even during her ride on the bus! As she held onto the straphanger, she hung her head as she planned out conversation starters and topics. She seemed to be so deep in thought, few people were giving her concerned looks. One girl on the bus, however, was able to snap Renge back to earth.  
"Renge~!" The girl whispered as she pushed stray locks of her maroon coloured hair to the back of her ear. Renge's head shot up and she found a girl sitting down that she was acquainted with, Kokoro, smiling at her.

"Oh hey, Kokoro, I mean Neji or, Kokoro if you're ok with Kokoro, otherwise I can use Neji..." Renge rambled awkwardly as she straightened her messenger bag on her shoulder. Kokoro simply chuckled and shook off Renge's response," Kokoro's fine, don't worry about it. Is everything alright though?"

"Yeah, it's great..." Renge answered as she wiggled her way through to the newly-made empty seat beside Kokoro.

"Well, if you ever have a problem, feel free to tell me," Kokoro offered with a sincere grin engraved onto her face. Renge felt very at peace whenever she was around Kokoro, maybe it was her energy. But when Kokoro said 'feel free to tell me' it actually made Renge believe that she could tell Kokoro anything and it wouldn't bother the girl at all. There was just something so genuine about her, but Renge couldn't pinpoint what. Whatever it was, Renge was grateful for this quality she found in Kokoro.

"I mean, so...I've had my eye on this kid..." Renge began without willing it, as if the words just rolled themselves off of her tongue.

"Ooh, tell me more!" Kokoro beckoned, sounding unusually girly as she pushed Renge on the shoulder vigorously. Renge let out a little snicker before she continued, her voice lowering to a whisper.

"Well, not giving his name, but...he's in one of my classes and he's a little aloof, but I kinda sorta think he's into me." Renge disclosed as she let a shrill squeal escape from her lips. Kokoro squealed with her and the two received a reasonable amount of stares after that spectacle. Renge didn't seemed to have noticed the stares and Kokoro simply brushed them off without a care.

"So, are you going to ask him out?" Kokoro asked curiously.

"Um, it's a little too early right now.." Renge confessed," But I wanna do it soon, at least before the end of the month."

"Well,go for it! I mean, it's worth a shot," Kokoro giggled as Renge crimsoned, not noticing until now how many stares they attracted.

"Ozawa Station!" The automated voice from the bus called out.

"Oh, this is my stop! I'll talk to you later, ok? I'll see you later Koko-I mean Neji!" Renge corrected, sounding flustered as she struggled to get off the bus.

When Renge arrived in her bedroom after getting off her second bus, the last thing she expected this afternoon was Kanari, Topher and Renny all seated on her bed, the exact spot she was going to crash into and think about more conversation topics for her and Nao. She appeared to be a little irritated, likely for not getting the memo about this apparent Pretty Cure meeting.

"Why are you here?" She asked sounding both slightly irritated and definitely not up for a Pretty Cure meeting.

"We've uncovered some facts." Renny stated excitedly. The idea of uncovering facts was something that intrigued Renge and was able to make her nervous by just wondering what it could be. Clearly he was talking about facts regarding this whole Pretty Cure business, well hopefully it was.

"So, Renge, you know how you said that you always feel hyped up whenever you make one of those cheesy speeches?" Kanari asked.

Gingerly, Renge answered,"Yeah…"

"And how I get all hype whenever I'm solving problems or making strategies?"

Renge had no idea what she was talking about, but she decided to follow on. She nodded in response and Renny then spoke up.

"Because your powers are based on Literature, a subject of ,as you say 'powerful empathy', you get stronger whenever you make those heart-felt speeches." Renny explained.

"And Arithmetic gets stronger whenever she tries to create solutions for problems during a fight." Topher added, sounding very much like he didn't want Kanari to get left out.

"I guess that makes sense.." Renge noted, seeming all of a sudden quite tense as they spoke about Pretty Cure.

"Renge, something up?" Kanari asked in that natural playful voice of hers.

"No, it's just…can we really do this, just the two of us?" Renge asked in worried, but very serious tone.

Kanari seemed a whole lot less playful, her gaze shifting downwards and silenced by that question the two had been thinking about for quite a while now. Save a a kingdom in a whole other world from a force who they were having more trouble to defeat with each and every encounter? At first, it wasn't so bad, or maybe that was all the adrenaline coursing out through them. But the truth of the matter was, this job wasn't getting any easier for the two of them.

"Well, that's why we gotta find the book!" Topher exclaimed, an undertone of worry audible in his voice.

"And it's not just you two.." Renny declared.

"How many are left to find?" Renge asked, frustrated with hearing the mention of more potential Pretty Cures that didn't seem to be showing up anytime soon.

Renny shrugged, feeling a little shameful that he didn't know himself, and then Topher spoke up.

"Well, there's definitely more than you two…" Topher stated, trying to sound reassuring with little avail.

Renge and Kanari didn't seemed too convinced with that answer, but their trains of thought were suddenly brought to a halt when they heard an obnoxious chant boom through the halls of Renge's house's upper floor.

"Have wheels, will shred! Have wheels, will shred!" The voice, which sounded like Hikaru's chant.

"Oh, would you shut the hell up with all that 'have wheels will shred' nonsense?!" Kanari shouted impatiently as she stood up.

"Never!" Hikaru shouted back, continuing his chant at a lower volume afterwards.

"Ugh, I'm so sick of hearing that stupid phrase!" Kanari grumbled, infuriated as she sat herself down again.

"Have wheels will….shred?" Renge repeated in confusion, appearing quite out of the loop.

"You haven't heard it at school before?" Kanari questioned in bewilderment. Renge then went through her memory to see if she had. It sounded kinda familiar, but she may have only heard it once.

"There's a kid in second year, Manaki Hijima and he's apparently a really good skateboarder." Kanari explained. Hikaru then burst into Renge's room, half his body in the doorway.

"He's not just really good, he's the best!" Hikaru claimed.

"Did we ask for your opinion?" Kanari questioned flatly.

Hikaru paid no heed to her," Renge, I'm surprised you haven't heard of Hijima considering you board too." Renge was motioning Hikaru to stop talking in the midst of that sentence but it seemed her attempts were futile.

"Renge, you… _skateboard?_ " Kanari questioned in shock.

"Not really! Well sorta, but I'm not that good!" Renge sputtered nervously while she tried to push Hikaru out of the doorway.

"She's got her own board too." Hikaru added.

"She does?!" Kanari exclaimed," I gotta see it!"

And so, Renge very reluctantly opened up her closet and removed a white, blue and orchid purple penny board from it. Kanari looked at it in awe while Renge rolled her eyes at Kanari's enthusiasm.

"How come you never said anything about it?" Kanari asked she stroked her hand against the board, the waffle texture of it feeling quite foreign to her.

"It never came up. Plus I only got it in July." Renge explained. After a few minutes of Kanari trying to ride the board and fail miserably, Renge bade her friend goodbye as the snow-white haired girl claimed she had other things to do this afternoon. This benefited Renge greatly, at least now she could think in peace of what exactly she could say to Nao and of course, finish her math homework. After her math homework was all done, she tried to think of something that could trigger a conversation between them, be it a strange looking pencil, or binder or...

Then, something in her room caught her eye. Her old messenger bag that featured her favourite anime on it. The bag was a little dysfunctional, considering a few, if not all the zippers had broken off of it, but it still was usable, to an extent. She decided she was going to take the bag tomorrow for Nao to comment on it. And maybe then they could actually carry out a normal conversation between each other! The thought made Renge smile brightly. How was it that imagining the simplest of things becoming tangible made Renge feel this unusually, cherish-worthy feel of euphoria? She looked down and wondered, was there anything special about this crush of hers? Or was it in reality like all the others? She pushed that thought away as she continued to brainstorm, tomorrow was drawing soon.

The next day, Renge found herself living in the moment of her and Nao's hangout session. Just the two of them, all alone, seated in the art room with music from the radio playing softly in the background. The room may have carried this tranquil atmosphere with it, but Renge was internally quite the opposite. For the first ten minutes, Renge's heart was beating at a break-neck pace, but after a few more minutes, she managed to regulate it's beating to a more comfortable rate. The room had fallen silent shortly after everyone from class left to go home. Renge hated it, especially because she had prepared so much for this! She had to take matters into her own hands and she had to it _now_. Start things off casually, she told herself this all of last night, so that's what she decided to do.

"I think I like this project a lot than than the previous one." Renge stated as the two continued to work on their pieces. Nao simply made a single sound of agreement and that was his sole contribution to the conversation. Renge felt a little disappointed, but she couldn't give up now. So she spoke more in regards to the topic," I just feel like this projects has less limitations, like we're free to do whatever we want, within reason of just one word."

This appeared to have obtained Nao's attention," _You_ _'_ _re_ free to do whatever you want. Meanwhile those of us in first and second year still have to have our projects fall under the theme umbrella."

Nao's response was followed by a little scoff so that told Renge these words weren't to be taken harshly. But, the response did make her feel a little awkward, considering she really wasn't expecting that.

"Right.." Was all Renge could manage,"Well, if you got to do a sculpture, what would you make?"

Nao put down the paintbrush he was painting his figure with as he thought about this. Placing his head to rest under his fist he seemed to be in deep thought.

"Can't say…" Nao stated as he picked the paintbrush back up," Stupid Marco, because of him I'm behind on my project."

"Well you're the one who lets Marco distract you," Renge giggled.

"Well, I'm not the only one behind on my project because of him." Nao pointed out as he gestured to Renge's project.

"Hey, I'm least I'm not _that_ far behind. If I bring my project home tonight, I bet I can catch up on it in no time." Renge declared.

Nao rolled his eyes and returned to his project," So, you said you into anime the other day. Just what do you watch?"

Renge giggled before she responded," Uh, everything. Except I don't usually watch some of the on-going ones unless it's Naruto."

"Ugh, you're into Naruto." Nao groaned.

"Well what do you watch?" Renge questioned curiously.

"Everything." Nao said as he extracted his tablet from his bag," I just finished this older one, you might like it."

Nao connected his tablet to the school wi-fi and showed Renge the anime during the last twenty minutes of their stay. It was a very interesting one, filled with dead, but not necessarily zombie, students and an angel. The show did really seem like something Nao would be into, it felt very calming to watch and yet it had the ability to make Renge's heart skip a beat at the same time. After they finished, Nao decided to tell her more about the show. As he spoke, he had this really passionate look in his eyes that Renge couldn't get enough of. She never saw him like this and she really enjoyed listening to Nao speak with such enthusiasm in his voice. He just about never showed this amount of emotion in class, how come things were different now? Renge didn't think too much about that part when she went home a short while later. She was just so happy with how well that went. She then decided that she really wanted to tell him how she felt really soon. But at the same time, she was very conflicted whether to actually go through with the idea. She had to fulfill that successful year she had been planning to do _and_ continue fighting against Temptation as a Pretty Cure. A boyfriend might not have been the best thing to add to the mix, but Renge really felt as if she had a chance this time! She couldn't or rather, she wouldn't let a chance like this slip away.

"He may always no." Renge pointed out to herself. She then looked at Renny and Topher resting soundlessly on their make-shift nest formed from old tea towels and a piece of one of Renge's old blankets. Ever since Topher came and since he was willing to transform into his human form in a regular basis (granted, you kept him away from mirrors.) he and Renny had been going to libraries all over the city in search of the book. They also had a list written down of how many libraries they had left. They needed to search seven more for them to have searched all the libraries in the city. They were working hard towards saving their home. In truth, Renge found their efforts quite admirable. After checking over the time, realizing it was almost ten o'clock, she went over to her calendar and attempted to figure what date she would ask Nao out on. Yeah, it seemed a little strange to choose a date, but that was just how Renge could motivate herself and build up enough courage to go through with it. She also needed to weigh out and determine what amount of time would optimize her chances of success. Anytime within this week was much too soon, it also wouldn't ensure any chance of success if it felt rushed. But then if she asked too late, his interest in her may decrease.

"Maybe the Thursday of two weeks from now?" She thought, considering it was only thirteen days away. She then noticed that the Thursday was the twenty-third of October, and she immediately decided against that day, as if she dreaded the thought.

"Maybe the twenty-seventh would be best…" Renge finalized with a bit of hesitance," At least by then I can be somewhat comfortable enough to ask him out…"

Days were passing by quickly, well at least, quicker than Renge expected and things were going well with Nao. She knew she had to at least find out whether or not her feelings were mutual, that way if the more probable outcome, the outcome of her crush being unrequited, she could then act as if it never happen and devote all her energy back to her school work and Pretty Cure. It was for the best if he said no however, that much she knew. They hung out again after class exactly one week later from the first time and, the two of them weren't as desperate to finish their projects. They seemed very much relaxed as they worked; Renge was painting away some pants onto her last figure and Nao was cutting out cardboard for a backdrop of his piece. Renge was looking at her her sketchbook in front of her and then she darted her eyes towards her project. All the figures she made seemed to be seated on a Ferris Wheel, but the problem was...the Ferris Wheel didn't have any supports. Renge knew she was going to encounter this problem soon, and now the time for that had actually came. Renge sighed loudly enough to pique Nao's interest. Pretending to seem highly uninterested, Nao looked over to Renge who was still trying to come up with a solution for her little dilemma.

"What is it?" Nao asked in flat tone.

"How am I supposed to get this thing to stand up on it's own?" She asked as sighed again. Right now, the Ferris Wheel was being held by Renge's stack of binders and even then it didn't seem stable.

Nao looked at it for a while and then finally, he simply said: "Wooden sticks."

Renge didn't seem to be fully on board just yet, so Nao explained a little more," The center of the wheel has this little knob thing and you can stick it between there. And course, you'd crazy glue it to keep it in place."

As Nao discussed his idea, Renge drew it out in her sketchbook to see if it would work. It appeared to and that just made Renge feel ecstatic.

"I...Nao, thanks!" Renge beamed, secretly wanting to hug him out of joy, but forcing herself to lay off.

"No problem, glad I could help.." " Nao responded bashfully.

When Nao turned his focus back onto his own project, Renge glanced over to him for a few moments, her stare going unnoticed by him. He may have been a little distant, but he was insightful and because of how candid he was, he could be a big help when help was needed. He also was the one to ask her to hang out this time, but he was more passive when he asked her. Either way, it was extremely unexpected from him, but Renge of course didn't mind at all.

Suddenly, she blurted out a question without even realizing it," Wanna hang out tomorrow?"

Nao double-blinked in surprise and Renge blushed a vibrant red. Normally she would never ever ask someone to hang out two days in a row, but for reason, she just did. She hid her face with one hand with an attempt to make the gesture seem casual and Nao simply snickered.

"Alright, I guess with all this staying back after class we may stand a chance to hand in our projects on time." Nao mused.

"I guess," Renge smirked with a genuine smile on her face.

Renge stood against the door of the Art room the next day, as she was let out of Math class early. She couldn't she was actually going to ask Nao out in a few days. But in order to keep her composure, she fought against thinking of the event. The Art club room was empty mostly except for the teacher would appeared to be looking at something on his computer. After Renge walked in, the bell sounded immediately after. Soon, all the students from her class poured in, including Nao. She didn't like the idea of asking him about whether or not they were still hanging out after club, so she decided against it. Nao and Renge were once again however distracted by Marco and his crude jokes and this time, Marco gained another listener.

He noticed a name carved into the table and snickered," It's seems we got a badass over here."

Nao looked over curiously and looked over at the name," He'll write his name on anything he can get his hands on…"

Renge appeared a little puzzled," Who are talking abou-?"

"Manaki Hijima right?" The girl sitting beside Renge asked. The only person that gave her their undivided attention was Renge. The boys continued to look at the carving while Renge waited for the girl to say more.

"That's the skater kid right?" Marco asked, his gaze still on the carving and his fingers now stroking against the letters.

"Yeah." Nao and the girl said together.

"Apparently he's going to a national competition this weekend." The girl reported, her long brown-black hair falling over her face as she looked over to the carving.

"So maybe that's why he hasn't been in class for the last two days…" Nao wondered.

Renge looked at the girl beside her, now curious about how she knew about Manaki, since she was a first-year. She was fairly tall and her very brown eyes were quite fixated on her sketchbook. Renge recalled her name to be Shinko, as the teacher had called her name a few times before. But the fact that Manaki hadn't been in school for a few days was strange, but Renge concluded that the matter was none of her business so she left it alone. Once club session was over, everyone aside from Renge and Nao exited the classroom.

Instead of working as diligently as ever on her project, she voted out her usual studious efforts in place of being more friendly to Nao. Her project was pretty much finished, and now all that was left was to write a reflection for the project. Nao on the other hand was clearly still trying to work hard, considering he needed to make up for that time he lost in class by talking to Marco for the majority of it.

"So how much do you have left to do?" Renge asked in a polite, casual manner.

"Need to decorate the backdrop some more, the girl's body still needs to be painted and who could possibly forget about the reflection?" Nao listed, in an unusually relaxed tone.

"Well, you still have a week left," Renge pointed out.

"Which is why I don't need to stress about this." Nao stated.

Renge then had a thought appear into her mind that begged her to cast it away by taking action to prevent it from happening.

"I feel like going to the centre, wanna come?" Renge asked, still trying to maintain that casual tone.

"Why do you want to go?" Nao asked, his voice lacking the interest that Renge was hoping for.

"Because I'm bored." Renge answered.

"I don't know…" Nao hesitated, though the hesitation in his voice sounded rather artificial to Renge.

"I'll buy you something." Renge offered. Nao looked up at her looking quite surprised. It appeared he wasn't expecting that.

"Really?" He questioned, sounding less cold than usual.

"Sure, within reason though." Renge declared as she got up from her seat.

The two left the classroom and on their way out from the school, they crossed paths with their teacher.

"That wasn't very long." The teacher noted while walking.

"We're both done for the most part.." Renge shrugged while walking.

It only took two or so minutes to reach their destination once they left the school. The Seinorimura shopping centre, known as the centre for short by the students of Seinori was a small indoor mall that had this weird quirk of attracting a mix of primarily senior citizens and teenagers. The latter likely only showed up so frequently because it was so close to the school. The centre itself had peculiar stores that appeared to never have any customers, which made some of the students wonder how some of said stores were still in business. The centre was very close to Seinori though. You couldn't get lost on your way their from the school even if you tried. The two were practically neighbours to each other and many students would go there during lunch.

Renge and Nao were in the bakery of the centre's grocery store. The bakery was nice and large but everything well, at least most things, had this very processed look to it. Which was typical considering the bakery wasn't an establishment of it's own. There was, however, one section of the bakery where baked goods didn't feel as processed compared to the rest of the items in the bakery section. In a glass display, one could see many types of your average types of cookies you'd find in a grocery store; chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia, oatmeal, double chocolate chip, and Renge's favourite, the carnival cookie which was made with rainbow chocolate chips.

Nao's eyes scanned the display while he tried to reach a decision. Renge waited patiently for him to make his selection.

"Can I have a Danish?" Nao inquired while his eyes were still watching the display.

"Sure."

Nao picked out a Danish with cherry filling and the two went to the cash register to pay. The Danish came up to a dollar and Renge made a small sigh of relief, that was all the loose change she had. Everything else was bills.

"Thank you!" Renge beamed as her and Nao walked out from the grocery store and into the actual mall of the centre.

"Such a cute girl.." The woman at the cash register remarked as Renge skipped off. Nao heard her comment as Renge came out of earshot.

"I know."

The mall didn't have too many kids from school today and that really made Renge and Nao curious as to why. Usually, this was the hang out spot for a lot of kids at their school, but it seemed things weren't like that today. The two walked around for a bit, engaging in conversations that were short-lived, but then, something or rather, someone, caught Renge's eye. Sitting on a bench in a somewhat secluded area of the mall that Renge found herself eating at frequently when she craved alone time, was a boy who seemed a little familiar to her, but she couldn't put a name to his face. He possessed the most red hair that Renge had ever seen, though most of it was tucked under his bucket-style hat and his skin was that of a sun-kissed shade. His hazel eyes seemed very, very lost in thought and sitting beside him was a pair of crutches. Renge then looked down at the boy's legs and realized one of them was in a vibrant green cast. She then noticed on his wrist laid a white rubber bracelet and what likely appeared to be his name written all over it.

"Manaki." Nao whispered quietly.

"Isn't he supposed to go to Nationals next week?" Renge asked in a whisper.

"Guess he's not to going to now." Nao shrugged.

Manaki felt as if he was worlds away from everything and he couldn't or rather, wouldn't let himself snap back to earth. It was so hard to grasp what had happened to him mentally that every time he tried to do it, he found himself with a headache. Why? He wasn't too sure on that part. Maybe it was because once he realized he wouldn't be able to preform in the Nationals, he thought of how his own world would decimate itself over a short amount of time. Now that he was unable to participate, he was going to lose everything. All of those fans he had that he took forever to gain, all that fame he had within the school, the fame that he was suppose to attain when he won. It was all gone now and it was just a matter of time before he became yesterday's news.

"But why...why is it that the one time I get a chance to prove myself I..." Manaki asked quietly to an invisible audience, sounding like he was on the brink of tears. His eyes stung while he held back the tears and he just hung his head in dejection. He was trying so hard all this time to achieve the title he knew was meant for him, he wanted to be known and he wanted this recognition so bad. Who knew one bail from a failed trick would cost him the rest of his future career? His heart sank every time he replayed that terrible scene in the hospital in his mind. The doctor told him it could've been worse, but it also could've been better. Whatever that meant. A fracture in his leg and that meant he wasn't going to be to skate for a few weeks, give or take months. He felt his world shatter upon hearing this news, as if the doctor just ruined his life by informing him about his condition. Now what was he going to do? How was he going to show his face at school? He managed to dodge the crowd for the first few days as it was the weekend, and he ended up telling his mom the pain was unbearable for him to attend school for those last two days. He wasn't ready to let go out this life that he worked so hard to get, he wasn't ready to say goodbye to his fans, or to skateboarding. He could feel his insides writhe inside of him as he thought harder about the subject.

"I thought I heard you say _two Pretty Cures_ have been discovered.." Temptasia said, her voice filled with disgust. She seemed to abhor simply saying the word 'Pretty Cure'. She waited for one of her subordinates to correct her but no correction came from any of them. Nobody was denying what she hoped to have misheard and that made her blood boil.

"So, two Pretty Cures huh? Two magical obstacles standing in our way that could've easily been eliminated in the first place.." Temptasia lectured, her mauve eyes glowing in a ghastly fashion," And you've all encountered them how many times?"

"Two." Zephora stated tonelessly.

"T..two..." Jika answered, her voice full of worry as always.

"One." Rishi replied in a calm manner.

Temptasia now seemed to be shaking with anger upon hearing these answers," _You good for nothing blockheads!"_

Jika shrieked and stood back, scared by her leader while Zephora just appeared to be quite apathetic to Temptasia and her outburst. Temptasia heaved in her breaths and turned her back towards them, not wanting to be seen in such a disheveled form.

"Rish! You go today! Teach these two girls a thing or two when it comes to chaos." Temptasia dictated as she held her hand against her cheek, pointing towards Rishi with her back still turned against them.

"Roger that," Rishi said as he went to the human world.

Jika and Zephora looked over to each other, both of them unsure of who Temptasia was referring to when she said 'these two girls'.

Manaki was still sitting on the bench from before and suddenly, he felt this ominous shiver crawl down his spine. It made him feel extremely tense and fearful at the same time, unable to move or even turn around to see if there was somebody behind him.

"It looks like somebody fifteen minutes are up..." Rishi remarked with snicker.

"Wha...what are y-you talking about? I'm, j-just getting started..." Manaki declared in a failed attempt to sound confident when in reality, he just sounded very frightened. Frightened that someone had already found him out, but could he blame them? Showing his face in public, while he was in his cast and without his board.

"Don't kid yourself." Rishi simply responded as he put his hand on Manaki's shoulder.

Rishi conjured up a magnifying glass and pointed it to Manaki's chest, well, the back of his chest. Manaki wanted to scream out in pain, but he couldn't find it in himself to even speak another word, not after what Rishi had just said to him.

With Manaki's extracted Inner Scholar flailing around in Rishi's hand, it appeared things were about to get worse from here.

"So what are we doing here?" Nao interrogated when he and Renge found themselves in the entrance of the biggest retail store in the mall, Ideal. Renge looked down and twirled locks of her hair around submissively.

"Dunno." She responded softly.

"Wanna go back to the school?" Nao suggested.

"Might as well," Renge answered, sounding very defeated and reluctant. Suddenly they heard a few screams coming from within the mall. Renge instinctively ran towards it while Nao ran for her.

"What are you doing?!" Nao shouted as Renge ran towards the cries for help. Renge couldn't give him a decent answer right now, considering there were more pressing issues at hand. Once she was a reasonable distance from Nao and close enough to figure out whether or not this was the doings of someone from Temptation, Renge took out both her phone and her Fountain pen of Knowledge.

"Kanari? I hope you aren't too busy right now, but we kinda have some business to take care of.." Renge said to Kanari over the phone after she dialed for her.

Nao caught up to her and witnessed the Delinquous formed from one of Manaki's crutches wreaking havoc on the remaining few people still in the mall.

"What...is that..?" Nao stared at the Delinquous desolately. He had never seen anything like it. But before the thought could be fully processed in his mind, his train if thought crashed as he realized Renge was tugging on his arm.

"We! Need! To! Go!" Renge shouted as she tried to pull Nao along. With any luck, she'd be able to get Nao to run off on his own without him realizing it and then she could transform and fight back.

Nao nodded and ran off but quickly realized Renge wasn't following behind him.

"And just what are you doing now?" Nao asked, finding Renge hold out her Fountain pen of Knowledge.

"I..." Renge trailed off dubiously, as she really didn't expect Nao to turn back for her.

"We should probably get out of here!" Nao suggested, raising his voice slightly so his words wouldn't be drowned out by the cries of the Delinquous.

"But what about them?" Renge questioned as she gestured towards the small handful of people, no more than three of them, still in the vicinity.

The crutch Delinquous abruptly plunged itself into the ground, causing a minor tremor in the mall. The few people that were still here tumbled onto the floor while Renge, who assumed she was going to drop as well, impulsively clung onto Nao's arm. Somehow, he was strong enough to keep the two of them on their feet, but one could tell this act of his wasn't an effortless one. He seemed little strained after that tremor and Renge awkwardly tried to hold him up.

" I'll get everyone out of here, for now you need save yourself!" Renge instructed.

"Well then at least promise you'll come out ok.." Nao pleaded.

" I'll be fine." Renge assured in that kind, warm tone of hers that Nao found himself entranced in every time he heard it. And with that, Nao finally left. She then noticed that everyone else managed to escape safely as well.

Renge directed all her attention towards the Delinquous and found Rishi sitting on an overhang of one the stores. She narrowed her eyes and held her pen up high.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" She cried out, the usual multitude of red lights encasing her body.

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature cried out.

The crutch Delinquous shook the ground with another tremor and Cure Literature found herself jumping up and onto the top of a nearby kiosk in an instant.

"Just how I am supposed to get close to it if it keeps doing that?" Literature wondered out loud grippingly.

"Never fear! Your fellow Cure is here!" Someone, most likely Arithmetic called out as she charged up to Delinquous from behind.

"Behind you." Rishi warned with little concern. The Delinquous spun around and jumped again to cause another tremor, but Arithmetic managed to evade it by leaping up and grabbing the horizontal pole of the crutch and did a full swing around it as she leapt off from it. She joined Literature at the kiosk, who stared at her in astonishment.

"I didn't know you could do that.." Literature remarked.

Arithmetic turned red and placed a hand behind her head,"Um...neither could I?"

Despite Arithmetic's tone sounding a tad unbelievable, Literature shook her head and continued to fight the Delinquous.

"Pretty Cure, Poetic...Jurisdiction!" Literature shouted out. This time the writing quills were larger in order to better trap the Delinquous. It was pinned against a wall for a few seconds but soon broke free.

"Even I had a feeling that was going to happen..." Arithmetic shrugged as she chased up to the Delinquous," Lit, follow me!"

Literature did as told and darted after the clad in blue Cure. They stood together before the Delinquous. Literature shot her fellow Cure a questioning look and Cure Arithmetic simply nodded as she gave her a wink.

"Pre! Ty! Cure! Brilliant boisterous barrage!" The two Cures yelled in unison, delivering relentless punches in what they assumed to be the vital points of the Delinquous. It fell backwards in dismay and laid their for a few moments.

"I can't believe that worked.." Literature panted as the Delinquous was still on the ground.

"I can't believe we didn't use that attack until now..." Arithmetic gasped out as she put her hand against her chest. There was something about synchronizing her moves with Literature's that required so much precision that it became near exhausting. Once the two recovered a few moments later, they tried to devise another plan on how to weaken the Delinquous. But as they were thinking, their guard was down and they didn't notice . Arithmetic was shoved down to her feet by the Delinquous and was caught underneath the pegged-leg of the monstrous once-normal crutch.

"Get off!" Arithmetic shouted infuriated as she tried to wiggle free from the Delinquous. Literature tried to push the Delinquous off with all her might, while Rishi just laughed at her.

"Do you know how stupid you look?" He jeered," Jeez, why do you girls always have to put up a fight? It'd be a whole easier for the both of you if you'd sit back and enjoy the trip.."

"Then you two could be just like this failure..." He added as he gestured he pointed his finger to the unconscious Manaki.

"A broken leg doesn't make him a failure!" Literature screamed at the top of her lungs.

"So then...how's screw-up? Or has-been, or rather, never-was?" Rishi scoffed as he laid down on the overhang.

Literature took a deep breath before she responded," You'd never understand what's like! To love something with all your heart and finally have a chance to prove yourself! You wouldn't understand what it's like to have that very thing taken away from you! But he doesn't have to give up! This isn't the end of the road for him!" Literature lectured as she felt this wave of new-found energy overtake her.

Battering down the Delinquous with all this energy erupting from her, she continued her speech," He still has a chance, so many choices, and as long as he doesn't make giving up one of them, he can succeed!"

Arithmetic decided to rejoin the brawl and aid her fellow Cure in pummeling this Delinquous. Arithmetic felt almost, intimidated and maybe even a little inferior as she fought alongside Literature, but she pushed those feelings aside as the two battled the Delinquous.

With one final blow, the two depleted the Delinquous of most of it's energy, making it possible to purify it.

Literature then used her signature attack to cleanse it," Pretty Cure, language of justice!"

The Delinquous was cleansed and Manaki's carmine Inner Scholar came dashing back into him, as if the outside world horrified him.

The Cures de-transformed and Renge found herself running towards the school, never quite sure herself as to why.

"Renge, come back!" Kanari cried out as Renge ran. Her cry seem to have fallen on deaf ears and appeared to have woken up Manaki. Looking at him come to sheepishly, Kanari sat by his side without moving a muscle. Laying on the ground, and Manaki's hazel eyes opened very slowly. He appeared to be a little stiff, which was understandable considering he had been laying on the floor for a while.

"Was I...asleep?" He asked hazily as he sat upright.

"Affirmative." Kanari shrugged, who ended up startling Manaki.

"I know you...you're that Mizukage girl in third year, right?" Manaki asked.

"Guilty. And judging by your bracelet you must be..." Kanari trailed off.

"...Guess the cat's out of the bag, huh?" Manaki snickered as he looked down to his cast dismally.

"..Dude, It's not the end of the world." Kanari shrugged.

"It's the end of _my_ world." Manaki hissed,"Now that I can't compete in Nationals, I can't prove to everybody just how good of a skateboarder I really am. And if I can't prove myself, I can't keep my fans."

"Says you." Kanari spat, and Manaki looked at her as if he really wasn't expecting that," The first step to proving yourself is being able to believe in yourself. You wanna know why you were able to get all of those fans you had? Well I'm about to tell you. It wasn't just the tricks, or your looks or whatever shoes you were wearing. It was your confidence, the fact that were you giving off this feeling of pride every time you skated and that you were so determined to make your dreams come true. That's why you attracted so many fans, because you didn't give up then. So do yourself a favour and don't give up now..."

Manaki looked down, feeling shameful for not showing his face at school and beating himself up about this whole thing.

"You make a good point.." Manaki concluded. Kanari beamed and Manaki grinned back to her.

"Oh by the way! Once you're out of your cast, I was wondering if you could help a friend of mine with boarding. She's a bit of a novice right and I'm sure she'd love your help!" Kanari mentioned.

"I'd be honoured to." Manaki replied.

Renge found Nao standing in the hall that connected the grocery store to the rest of the mall. She suspected him to be here, but she didn't know why she had said suspicion.

"Why are you still here?" Renge asked.

"I wasn't too keen on leaving until you came back." Nao said," You took forever back there."

"I know but, I mean...I'm safe now, that's all that matters right?" Renge pointed out.

"Very true, well I'm going to head home, so I'll see you tomorrow." Nao said as he turned his back and began to walk away.

Renge was more than pleasantly surprised that Nao waited for her and she stood there, simply smiling in his direction. But then, she closed her eyes and they flickered from plain brown to carnation pink.

"Nao, there's something I have to tell you!" She proclaimed joyfully. Nao stopped in his tracks and Renge returned to normal, unsure of just what happened. She realized what she had just done and had no clue as to why she just did that. But now, it seemed like there was no turning back. Not after blurting that out. Nao led her to a bench and looked at her expectantly.

"I have feelings for you, will you go out with me?" She asked, feeling her heart beat so quick that she felt as if it was going to burst. Looking him dead into those gorgeous green eyes, Renge nearly let herself get lost in them, but dropped her gaze to her shoes shortly afterwards to avoid seeming weird.

"So, that means you have a crush on me, right?" Nao then asked.

The question sounded a little dim, but Renge was too caught up in the moment to even process how dim it was and nodded

Nao sighed out of relief, but still seemed a little tense, "Oh good, so this crush _is_ mutual."


	7. A birthday party for Kokoro?

Renge looked genuinely surprised and super excited upon hearing this response. Her heart was fluttering all over again and she finally let herself smile that goofy, lovesick smile she'd been biting back for days whenever she was around Nao. Was this actually happening? Did, her feelings for once..get returned? But wait, he didn't yet say whether or not he would go out with her. She recomposed, pretending to seem collected, but Nao was holding his hand over his mouth to cover his smile as he wondered if he had ever seen Renge so happy. She reddened a bit and smiled shyly to him.

"So...?" Renge prompted, hoping Nao would try and take his time to toy with her.

"Well, I did have a girlfriend a while ago, and..it didn't end well between us.." Nao confessed.

"Oh," Renge simply sounded, somewhat unsure as to why he was mentioning this now.

"So, I'm not very good with this whole relationship thing, but I really do like you too, so if you really are willing to take the chance, then yeah..I'd love to go on a date you." Nao responded.

Renge felt her heart soar upon hearing that and now the two were walking back to the school. Walking side by side with Nao made Renge feeling this sense of euphoria that hadn't ever recalled experiencing before.

"Um, so what day do you want to go out?" Renge asked, still sounding shy but managed to have her excitement seep out from from voice.

"I kinda usually have a busy schedule.." Nao confided awkwardly," Just name a day so I can see if it works."

"How's Friday?We don't have school that day." Renge suggested. Nao mentally went through his schedule before delivering a response to Renge.

"I'm helping at a children community center that day, so I'm not sure if Friday would be so good..." Nao replied sheepishly.

Renge's eyes widened, she didn't expect Nao to be into that kinda stuff. She looked down for a moment to once again regain composure before she suggested another day.

"Do you know what days are free?" Renge asked as she looked up towards him.

"I'm free Sunday and Monday afternoon." Nao answered immediately.

"Ok, I think Monday afternoon works best for me..." Renge decided. Nao nodded and awaited Renge to voice some suggestions regarding what they were going to do on their date.

"Um...I'm not sure just what we should do on our date just yet. I didn't think I get this far, honestly..." Renge revealed which caused Nao to laugh upon hearing that. Before they knew it they were at the front of the school.

"But I can just think of something until then, if that's ok..." Renge giggled stiffly. Renge then asked him something very quietly that she wasn't expecting Nao to hear.

"Can I have a hug?" She asked in a tone that was bashful that she couldn't barely identify as her own voice.

"Sure." He said, just as quietly as her. The two hugged and Renge turned beet red all over again. This whole thing had her over the moon and it had only been twenty minutes. Renge looked completely giddy after they broke the hug, causing Nao to smirk at her.

She giggled awkwardly with him and bade him farewell for the day. Nao did the same and the two went their separate ways. Renge went to catch the bus and found herself with the company of total strangers. But that didn't bother her today, considering just what happened. She felt a little nervous however when she thought about whether or not she could maintain this relationship, her Pretty Cure duties and her studies. But she at least had to try her best, it was all she could do anyways. Once Renge glided into her bedroom, still on cloud nine, she noticed Renny jotting down notes on a notepad that was originally lying on Renge's side table. Seeing Renny reminded her that she really needed to ask him about that occurrence that happened today that caused her to confess to Nao. While she did originally regret letting that happen even though it was inevitable, she wasn't as upset about it as she thought she was going to be. Probably because it resulted in her getting to go out with Nao. She approached the little bird and noticed something was missing in the vicinity.

"Where's Topher?" Renge asked.

Renny kept his eyes on the notepad and answered," Having another Math-off with Kanari."

"Oh, ok, by the way..we ran into Temptation today.." Renge mentioned.

"I know, Kanari told me. I'm sorry me and Topher couldn't be there today." Renny apologized," We were at our second-last library to search at the time."

"No, don't be sorry. We handled it perfectly fine..." Renge reassured,"..But, something weird kinda happened today.."

Renny stopped writing in the notepad and finally looked up to Renge with concern," What happened?"

"Nothing particularly alarming, it was just um, after we purified the Delinquous and everything, I went over to see if my friend was ok and he was..but when he was about to leave, I blurted something out unexpectedly. And I had no intention of even saying such a thing, at least not today. It was like, someone else was talking for me..." Renge explained uneasily.

Renny could tell just how worried Renge seemed about not knowing how this occurrence happened, so he tried to think of just how it could've happened. Before he furthered his analysis, he asked her another question.

"Just what did you say?" He interrogated.

Renge's cheeks tinted pink for what felt like the thousandth time today and turned her face away from Renny. Eventually she responded by vaguely saying,

"Does it matter?" With a little pout.

Renny looked at her questioningly as he responded to her," Kind of."

Renge let out a huge sigh, not really intending to inform Renny about her relationship, but it seemed it couldn't be avoided now.

"I told him I had something to say to him.." She confessed.

This wasn't enough for Renny to reach an explanation," What did you need to tell him?"

"Does it ma-?"

"-Kind of, again." Renny interrupted impatiently. Renge drew out one final sigh before she revealed what happened. Renny looked at her expectantly, absolutely unprepared for what she was about to disclose to him.

"Well, today…I ended up unwillingly confessing to a boy that I liked.." Renge confided. Renny's eyes widened in total shock. He would've never imagined Renge to do something like that! Still in total shock, he stammered out.

"S-so what happened after that?" Renny asked.

Renge honestly didn't believe this part mattered but for the sake of not wanting to leave Renny in the dark any longer, she told him the outcome of her confession.

"Well…let's just say I have a boyfriend now…" Renge answered, flinching before Renny even said anything, believing he was going to lecture her about asking a boy out while she was a Pretty Cure.

"Good for you," Renny beamed," Just try and make sure you still have time for Pretty Cure and your studies though.."

Opening up her squeezed shut eyes she looked at the bird in confusion," Aren't you going to be mad at me?"

"Have you ever known me to get mad?" Renny pointed out," Besides, I can stop you from liking boys. Anyways, back to the matter at hand, you said you weren't planning to confess today right?"

"Yeah, I was planning for the twenty-sixth…" Renge responded.

Renny then observed the calendar," So that's why there are so many hearts on that day.."

Renge giggled sheepishly and awaited Renny to uncover an explanation regarding her outburst.

"Something tells me it was your Inner Scholar talking for you." Renny explained. Renge nodded as if she understood what he was talking about, when in reality she hadn't a clue. Renny took notice of this and chuckled.

"Sometimes, well when you're a Pretty Cure, they can voice your inner thoughts or act in the place of you when you don't want to." Renny reiterated.

"But I was going to confess next week." Renge countered.

"Well…maybe sub-consciously, you were feeling impatient and so your Inner Scholar took over. And if it wasn't that, maybe it was the Inner Scholar getting caught up in the moment." Renny suggested. It did make sense, but if that was the case, why was it only Renge this was happening to?

"So, what, does that mean Kanari going to confess to somebody too?" Renge questioned.

"Her powers and skill are under the field of math, so I doubt it." Renny stated,"But don't worry, over time you'll be able to control your Inner Scholars."

Renge didn't like the fact that Renny used the term 'over time' implying this Pretty Cure thing was to going to last longer than she hoped.

Renge sighed and stated," Well, I guess in the meantime I'll just have to try and keep myself from saying these weird things. Also, I've got a History test tomorrow so I'm just going to study for the rest of the night. Try not to distract me, ok?"

"Ok." Renny agreed simply as he returned to his notepad and wrote down more notes.

Renge did just that but into the first hour in, she was already experiencing difficulty to stay focused. Nothing new there for her. So she took a much-needed ten minute break and went on her phone to kill time. When she went on her phone, she noticed she received a text from a certain friend that just smiled at the thought of.

"Kokoro…" Renge said in a quiet, near cheerful voice.

" _Hey! So as some of you might know, my birthday is this weekend and so I thought, what better way to celebrate than throw a party with some of my most favourite people? Ha, did that ever sound cheesy. Anyway, party starts at four on the twenty-fifth and my address is 617 Yanagizawa road. Hope you can all make it!"_

"A birthday party…for Kokoro?" Renge asked after reading the text. If anything, she felt somewhat honoured that she got invited to her birthday party, not because she never got invites, it was just she had known Kokoro for only a short while now. But that didn't mean she felt like she couldn't go to the party because of this. It actually sounded like fun, even though details regarding the event were very, very limited.

Renge texted back, " _Sounds like a good time, I'm in!"_

And then Renge was struck with a question that she always loved to put quite a bit of thought into before reaching a decision: What was she going to get Kokoro for a birthday present?

Now this is where being only acquainted with Kokoro became a disadvantage. Not knowing what Kokoro liked was one thing, _asking_ her what she liked was another. But it would've been ok, right? It's not like they knew that much about each other, so it likely was ok. Besides, it made it look as if Renge was much more thoughtful than expected, which she was, so there wasn't much harm in her asking.

" _By the way, what are some things you like?"_ Renge texted.

" _Yay you're coming! And I like anime, jewelery, stuffed animals and scented candles."_ Kokoro texted back.

Renge rested her fist under her chin as she tried to determine what she wanted to get her the most from the list given to her.

"Scented candles feel like the easy-way out, and a rather plain present if you ask me…" Renge noted as she bit her thumb.

"Renge, what are you doing?" Renny asked as he noticed Renge was going over her intended amount of break time.

"Making some crucial decisions.." Renge answered, still quite deep in thought.

"Crucial decisions?" Renny repeated in surprise,"About what?"

"What to get Kokoro for her birthday!" Renge announced as she leapt up and stood on her bed.

"So then, what are you thinking about getting her?" Renny questioned, his head slightly tilted.

Renge didn't hear Renny, immersing herself into deep thought once more. After another few moments, something came to Renge as her eyes drifted over to one of her posters. She grinned looking up towards it, and dashed over to a corner of her room Renny wasn't very much acquainted with and pulled out a large plastic container holding what appeared to be felt.

"What are going to do with all this?" Renny squawked incredulously as Renge recklessly opened up the container.

"I'm going to make Kokoro a stuffed animal!" She exclaimed as she held up a sewing needle in the air. Renge had to admit, while sewing up a stuffed animal was an innovative and thoughtful idea for a birthday present, it also doubled as a treacherous task for the left-handed girl. There was always something about sowing that she had a love-hate relationship with. She loved the idea of making cute pillows and plush animals from really pretty fabrics, but she couldn't stand sowing the thing itself! Alright well, maybe it wasn't the sowing in particular that drove Renge up the wall, maybe it was the cutting of fabric for the pieces. Her wrists would be in so much pain when she'd be finished with cutting all the parts! But, in the end, it was usually worth it.

Over the next few days after school, Renge worked tirelessly on Kokoro's plush while trying to keep up with her studies with much much avail. So whenever she got tired of working on homework, she'd switched to the plush and vice versa until she finished her homework for the night. She had decided to make Kokoro a purple cat as memory serves, purple was her favourite colour and her favourite animals were cats. Thank goodness the only hard part of making the plush was cutting the pieces up. But sewing it together took longer than Renge expected. Had it always taken so long to sow up one plush or did she get rusty? But, even though it did take a while, sowing was honestly quite relaxing for Renge. At least, when there was nobody, especially her old sowing teacher from middle school to stress her out about her doing something wrong. Nope, so far, everything seemed fine. And that was probably only because she was only making a simple little cat. Finally, by Friday afternoon, she had finally finished the cat for Kokoro. Though she had to undo and restitch some areas, cut new pieces for the ones she had misplaced, the cat turned out quite nice. It purple fleecy fabric felt nice and snuggly in Renge's arms and it's precious little button eyes made Renge feel so proud as she looked into them. She was also quite happy she gave the plush cat eyebrows, that way she wouldn't feel so uncomfortable looking at it.

"I wonder what she'll name it..." Renge thought aloud as she stroked the 'fur' of the cat. Then an idea came to her. She found a very small stack of cardstock paper within her room and folded it in half, cutting a piece of it into a heart shortly afterwards. She coloured the heart red and found a ruffled piece of purple ribbon lying in her computer desk drawer. Fastening the heart onto the ribbon with some thread, She then reached for a nearby marker and held the heart open. She grew hesitant, once she realized what she was doing.

"Should I do this? I mean, giving it a name should be Kokoro's job but..." Renge trailed off,"...It'd be so much more thoughtful if _I_ gave it the name, right?"

Renge sat there feeling uncertain and finally just decided to go through with her idea.

She wrote down 'Kokokitty' onto the nametag with her nicest handwriting, hoping the calligraphy may distract Kokoro from realizing Renge named it in the place of her. Looking over to her clock and realizing it was just a little past eleven, Renge cringed upon realizing just how late it got, considering she rarely stayed up eleven, unless it was in the summer. She threw her pajamas and jumped into bed after place Kokokitty on her computer chair and shutting the lights off. Just before she drifted into sleep, she thought about Nao and remembered how her date with him was in less than three days. It both excited her and made her feel extremely nervous, but for now, she was too tired to even stress about her date when Kokoro's party hadn't even happened yet. But, the next morning came in what felt like an instant to Renge and soon, she found herself struggling to find an outfit to where in the now limited time she had. Running around her room and putting a few things together before she went to the party, she managed to find a bag that was big enough to fit Kokokitty in and stuck the card she made within the last ten minutes into the bag. Realizing she actually had forty minutes left and all she needed to do now was take a shower, she slowed things down and regulated her pace now that she had more than enough time. While she was in the shower, rinsing away all of her stress, someone, most likely Hikaru, was knocking on the door.

"Renge, I'm heading over to Keiji's place now!" Hikaru shouted over the shower.

Renge heard him and remembered one last thing she had left to do," Can you do me a favour?"

"A favour? Sure!" Hikaru yelled.

"There's a stuffed animal on my bed that I'm giving to Kokoro for her birthday. Can you put it in the yellow polka bag next to my computer chair?!" Renge yelled.  
"Ok!" Hikaru hollered, sounding a tad reluctant.

Meanwhile in Renge's room, Renny and Topher looked over the notepad Renny had been writing into for the past week while sitting on Renge's bed. Topher examined it carefully and Renny examined his brother examining his notes even more carefully.

"So, this is your master list of what we're up against?" Topher asked.

"Basically, I'll add onto it more eventually.." Renny answered.

Hikaru then appeared into Renge's room and looked around for the stuffed animal Renge was talking about. The two birds stood still, pretending to be stuffed animals like Renge instructed them to every time a non-Pretty Cure was in the room. Hikaru scanned Renge's mess of a bed for the stuffed animal she was talking about, but all Hikaru could see was Renny, Topher and what appeared to be the tail of Kokokitty underneath one of Renge's blanket.

Hikaru then picked up Renny and placed him carelessly in the yellow polka-dotted bag. Topher watched helplessly as his brother was taken out of the room via the bag and grimaced as he heard Hikaru stomp down the stairs that would bring him to the doorway. He was about to call for Renge and inform her about Renny inside the bag, but she didn't even come back into her room after she got out of the shower.

Hair still clipped up and glasses resting on top of her head, Renge dashed down the staircase, adjusting her shirt from backwards to normal. The rest of her stuff that she needed was all located beside the door. She ripped the claw clip that was holding her hair up off and put on her glasses, reaching for her jacket sitting next to her on the staircase and grabbed the polka-dotted bag up from the ground.

After she closed the door to the front door, she could see her bus racing down to her stop from the corner of her eye.

"Ah! Wait for me!" She cried madly as she dashed across the street. It was times like these when she was glad she lived so close to the bus stop and on the head of the street. To her relief, she caught the bus, but for Renny, he was now transported to a world of distress. Within the bag, he was cursing himself silently for not saying anything between those few moments when Hikaru was gone and he was just with Renge. He could've easily flown out from the bag, if it hadn't been taped up by Hikaru. He could've even cried for help from within the bag, but Renge seemed to be in such a hurry, and he didn't enjoy the idea of slowing her down, so he kept his mouth shut. Which he now regretted greatly. All he could do now was hope he'd be able to get Renge's attention when there were less people around or leave things to Topher in hopes that he could fix this mess.

Topher was one step ahead of him, grasping Kokokitty with his talons as he flew over to Kanari's house. No, he didn't actually live there but he practically did considering how much time he spent over at her place. He could've easily transformed into a human too, but he didn't want to risk getting sidetracked at such an urgent time nor get asked a thousand questions about how he knew Kanari if Kanari's parents were home. Flying onto Kanari's windowsill after about four minutes, Topher waited impatiently for Kanari to notice him, the girl being preoccupied with her phone and laying down on her bed looking at some video. After a few more moments, Topher could no longer take this.

"Arithmetic!" He squawked with very little patience, causing Kanari to drop her phone onto her face.

"Topher, so great to hear you…" Kanari greeted as she rubbed her forehead in agitation.

"Renge's in really big trouble!" Topher cried as he held up Kokokitty.

"Is Temptation at it again?" Kanari questioned as she took out her Fountain pen of Knowledge.

"Not exactly…" Topher started awkwardly before he reluctantly began to tell Kanari about the situation.

Renge walked up to where she believed Kokoro's home was. It seemed to be the right address, but boy was it nerve-wracking coming down this way! Renge's parents warned this wasn't exactly a safe neighbourhood and that was more than enough to worry Renge. Thankfully, it didn't seem like she was lost, and through one of the windows that belong to what she believed to be Kokoro's house, she could see a figure that looked a lot like Kokoro. But before she approached the door,she heard someone whispering her name in a hasty tone.

"Renge!" The voice continued to whisper. Renge turned her head around, trying to find someone, anyone that may have been the owner of the voice.

"H-hello…?" Renge said uneasily.

"In the bag!" It whispered back. Kokoro looked down at the bag and a frightening thought came into her mind. Was Kokokitty speaking to her? Did she somehow get possessed overnight and was intending to possess Renge next? It didn't sound plausible but hey, if magical girls existed, then this could've too.

But then again, the voice did sound like a certain orange bird Renge knew.

Cautiously, Renge opened the bag to see just who was talking to her. Just as she thought, she found Renny in her present bag with no sign of Kokokitty accompanying him.

"Renny, what do you think you're doing in there?!" Renge yell-whispered.

"I think you're brother put me in here instead of the cat!" Renny yell-whispered back, a little bit of sass crawling out from his tone.

Renge wasn't quite up for all this attitude coming from Renny and now she was stuck without a present for Kokoro! She suddenly felt her phone vibrate from within her pocket and looked to see who the texted her.

" _Have no fear, Kanari_ _'_ _s gonna save the day! Topher told me everything and I've got the kitty with me. Btw, where does Kokoro live?"_ The text read.

Renge texted Kanari the address but before she could even think about stowing the present bag away into her messenger bag, she was spotted by Kokoro.

"Renge, I'm glad you could make it!" Kokoro beamed as she walked to Renge and led her into the house.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world.." Renge said as she fought to put the present into her messenger bag with her free hand.

"Oh, I'm assuming the bag's for Kokoro yes?" A man who appeared to Kokoro's dad asked," I'll just put it over here if that's alright."

"It's fine…." Renge said, sounding very defeated as she watched Kokoro's dad walk away with the bag and place it onto a table with what seemed to be rest of the presents Kokoro received.

"Kanari better show up soon…" Renge griped. To ease her mind, she decided to simply see who Kokoro invited to her party. A lot of kids from Kokoro's grade were here, along with Ayano and Kokoro's little sister. A lot of the guests were people Nao frequently hung out with and it seemed they were aware of the fact that the two were dating as they exchanged questionable glances at each other. But Nao himself wasn't here. It made Renge consider the possibility that he may've been invited too, but declined the offer since his group of friends were here.

"So, Renge, how have things been going with you and that boy were talking about?" Kokoro asked, urging Renge to give out most, if not, all the details. Thankfully nobody was listening to them and Renge held a finger up to Kokoro, signaling that she'd find out later.

Outside of the house, standing on the doorstep to Kokoro's house uneasily was a rather tall boy with short brown hair and matching eyes. He felt himself fidget unconsciously for a few moments and placed his hands at his sides. Looking at his reflection through the window of the door, he looked back at himself, his anxiousness seemed to have made it's way to his face. He then held his hand over his eyes and reminded himself over and over again that things were different.

He was no longer that dorky chubby kid from middle school. He actually stood a chance now. But how come being back at Kokoro's place made him feel like that same middle school boy again? He shook off the feeling in an instant and nervously knocked on the door.

Kokoro walked over to the door and opened it, a little confused considering she wasn't expecting another guest for another hour. So far, just about everyone was here, as far as she knew, aside from two people, but they'd come in due time. So, Kokoro assumed that the two guests had already arrived, but when she opened the door, she saw an old friend standing in her doorway.

"Kunio!" Kokoro screamed gleefully as she hugged the boy tightly.

"Koko," Kunio said as he lifted her up. It had felt like an eternity since the last time the two saw each other. How long had it been, two years? It was around the last week of summer vacation before high-school started, yeah something like that. For those two years the two texted religiously but just about never made plans to see each other and when they did, things got canceled. This thankfully didn't cause any fallouts between them and now, that time away from each physically had finally come to end. At least, it did temporarily.

"Kuni's here?" One of Kokoro's friends asked as he made his way over to the front door. Everyone followed along to greet their old friend. Renge squinted at this boy while he was greeting everyone, as if she vaguely recognized him. His name was more familiar than his face admittingly. Renge remembered hearing the name once or twice when riding the bus when she was in her first year of high-school. Chances were, considering how uncommon the name was, this was the same kid from the bus back then. She never actually knew him in person but she had a few mutual friends with him. After a while, once everyone was seated back in the living room of Kokoro's house and seemed everyone had 101 questions for Kunio.

"So Kunio, what's your new school like?" A boy whose name Renge recalled to be Shinji.

"Well, technically it's not my new school since I've been there for two years now..." Kunio chuckled," But it's alright, I mean, it's doesn't beat Seinori, but it's ok."

"It sucks you had to move an hour out of the city..." Another friend complained.

Kunio snickered at the remark, his gaze falling down to the carpet while doing so,"...Yeah, it really does. Especially considering I had to leave all of you guys."

An awkward silence fell upon the room but it was broken shortly after when a very obnoxious "ding-dong!" sounded outside of the house.

"Ding-dong!" The voice yelled again.

"More surprise guests?" Kokoro giggled as she walked up to the door. Opening the door, she found Kanari standing in her doorway. She held her hands up to her mouth in surprise as she took a step back in disbelief.

"M-mizukage? What, why are you here?" Kokoro asked incredulously as she held back an ecstatic grin.

"Because me being present, shall be your present." Kanari answered as she bowed a theatrical bow. Renge rolled her eyes when she walked to the front door, recognizing Kanari's voice.

Renge apologized stiffly,"Sorry Kokoro, I hope you don't mind but I kinda invited one of my friends-"

"Don't be! You invited _the_ Kanari Mizukage!" Kokoro exaggerated. Renge and Kanari looked at each other in confusion but Kanari seemed ok with just going along with Kokoro's apparent admiration.

Just before Kanari was going to make some crazy speech in attempt to Kokoro fangirl even more, Renge then asked.

"Why is she _the_ Kanari Mizukage?" Renge asked flatly.

"Well, she's so cool and stylish, not to say you aren't. And she's like my goal." Kokoro blurted out.

"Goal?" The two of them repeated in unison.

"Yeah! I wish I could dye my hair white like yours, but my parents wouldn't ever let me."Kokoro admitted, looking at Kanari with adoration.

Kanari declared sheepishly, "Trust me, it's not like my parents were all that supportive of it either."

During the party, Kunio kept waiting for the perfect moment for him and Kokoro to be alone, but it felt like it never going to come! They kept playing board games and engaging in conversations, which Kunio didn't usually mind, but now really wasn't the time. But, every time he looked over to Kokoro, his mind took a break from stressing over his current issues and just basked in her presence. That's right, after so long, he finally got see Kokoro. Looking at her smile he felt so at ease and as she twirled her very, very maroon coloured hair he unconsciously gave her his undivided attention.

Once Renge began talking with some of Kokoro's other friends which she vaguely knew from school, she nearly forgot all about Renny inside the present bag. From within the bag, Renny sat feeling very uncomfortable and growing extremely impatient. He began to wonder if he was ever going to be free from this bag but at this rate, it didn't seem likely. He sighed loudly and to pass time, he listened to party going on outside of the bag.

"We should play truth or dare!" One voice suggested loudly.

"This oughta be good..." Renny stated sounding remarkably unenthusiastic.

So, instead of playing truth or dare, the group decided upon watching a movie, much to Kunio's pleasure. Now he could have have some alone with Kokoro! Kokoro inserted a cd into the disk drive of her dvd player and the movie began. Kunio had already seen this movie, so watching it didn't really interest in the slightest. Not like it even did to begin with. During the first ten minutes, Kunio was preparing himself for his talk with Kokoro. It was absolutely no big deal, as long as he played it off and pretended it wasn't as nerve-wracking as it really was, he'd be fine. He also told himself to pretend it was like him texting Kokoro like usual. Except he could actually see Kokoro this time. He ignored that last part and shoved it to the back of his mind.

At a half-hour into the movie, Kunio tapped Kokoro on the shoulder to get her attention. She turned around to see him and he gestured to the doorsteps leading to the upstairs of her home. The two tiptoed over to the stairs, going unnoticed by everyone.

"Something the matter?" Kokoro asked in her usually cheerful tone.

"Nah, I've already seen that movie, so it's boring for me, besides, I haven't seen you in so long and I just wanted to talk." Kunio stated.

"Yeah, I've seen that movie a couple of times too, so it's lost it's charm for me. I just put it on 'cuz that's what everyone voted for. So what did you want to talk about?" Kokoro questioned.

"Anything really, as long as it's you I'm talking to." Kunio responded, hoping to sound charming to Kokoro.

"Oh, you're so silly!" Kokoro jeered as she pushed him by the shoulder.

Kunio scoffed at how dense Kokoro was but the two ended having a rather meaningful conversation soon enough. It appeared both of them were uneasy about the fact that next year would be their final year of high school. They were just thankful that they still had most of this year left.

"I feel like by February it's going to hit a lot of us that we'll be graduating really soon, what with semester change and registering for next year." Kokoro stated.

"Yeah, and by then it'll be weird to think that by that time, we'd be in third year in a couple of months.." Kunio added.

"There are so many things to stress over in third year though, I feel bad for Renge and Kanari." Kokoro surmised, causing Kunio to look at her questioningly.

"Believe it or not, they're a year older than us." Kokoro giggled.

"I guess they have to worry about college, and senior trip and a bunch of other things too..." Kunio listed. Kokoro nodded in agreement.

"So, have you thought about any of those things yourself yet?" Kunio asked casually.

"Well, I'm not sure if I want to go on the senior trip, I have thought about college...right now, I think I just have someone running through my mind a little too much for me to focus on stuff like that.." Kokoro implied.

Kunio lit up, automatically thinking that she meant him," Seriously? That's so weird, I have someone in mind too!"

"Really? Who may that be?" Kokoro asked naively.

"Well, I knew her a long time ago. She was my best friend for the longest time. Her smile lit up the room, her glasses helped her green eyes sparkle to no end, and she had the biggest heart ever. She was selfless, and hopeful, cheerful, yet down-to-earth. But, soon enough I was separated from her. And I never saw her again up until today..." Kunio confided.

"Kunio..." Kokoro voiced, sounding both uncomfortable and entranced at the same time.

"I've loved you for a very long time and I just want to know, would you like to be my girlfriend?" Kunio asked.

Just before Kokoro was about to give him her response, the two heard the doorbell ring from upstairs. The two of them heard the rest of the guests ask where Kokoro was and immediately Kokoro rushed upstairs.

"I'll be back in a second." Kokoro assured as she ran up the stairs. Kunio waited, feeling a little impatient and somewhat annoyed that Kokoro hadn't responded to him before she went upstairs.

"Kokoro, your little mermaid's here!" One voice from upstairs shouted. Kunio seemed a little puzzled by that but just assumed that Kokoro would fill him in on whatever that meant when she returned downstairs. When Kokoro arrived downstairs, two girls followed behind her. One of them Kunio recognized from middle-school, her very ginger hair being her most prominent feature. It had been a while since he see her too but at least he could still remember name, Matsuri. The other girl was someone new to him and was a very pretty girl, but didn't come close to Kokoro in his eyes. Her hair was sandy blonde and wavy and she was taller than Kokoro. Her skin was tanned and her smile seemed very welcoming when she met eyes with Kunio.

"Kunio, you remember Matsuri and this is my girlfriend, Ariel." Kokoro introduced as she held Ariel's hand.

Kunio could feel his heart drop as he looked at Ariel. Clearly she had no idea Kunio just confessed thankfully but just looking at him, Ariel felt like there was something going on with him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Ariel said softly as she extended her hand. Kunio looked at her for a long time before stretching out his own hand.

"You too..." He greeted, a dismal undertone being detectable in his voice.

"Oooh, everyone take a look at this!" Jika exclaimed from with the dark, cold room that the denizens of Temptation always resided in. Neither Zephora or Rishi expressed interest in seeing what Jika was talking about, but they walked to the viewing glass in the center of the room.

"It's a boy." Rishi stated.

"But look at him~!" Jika cried gesturing towards the boy madly as she flailed her arms in his direction.

"Heartbroken and turned hopeless, the girl he loves is in love with someone else." Zephora declared.

"Yeah! I bet we can take his Inner Scholar!" Jika cheered,"...His time's running out as it is now anyways!"

"We, who's we?" Rishi asked as he walked off back to his floating platform while lighting a cigarette.

"You know, that stuff can kill you!" Jika pointed out haughtily.

"It can try, but you and I both know the time for killing anyone here, let alone me has past." Rishi stated deviously," And besides, second-hand smoking's the worse of the two." He blew a puff of smoke in Jika's direction, though it wouldn't come to her at his distance. Still, she madly waved her hand around to fend off the smoke and then left for the human world.

During the time whilst everyone was still absorbed into the movie, Kanari and Renge had finally decided to switch Renny and Kokokitty. As Renny emerged out from the bag, he exasperated out a enormous breath of relief, but was hushed by the girls immediately after. But, just when they were going to place Kokokitty in the bag, the lights flickered back on and Jika appeared in front of them.

"Hello everyone, the highlight of your night has arrived~! And in good timing I may add.." Jika declared as everyone aside from Renge and Kanari tried to impulsively make a run for it. Jika didn't bother chasing after them but once they left, she made sure all of the doors were locked shut, including the one leading from the basement to the upstairs floor.

"Damn it, it won't open!" Matsuri cried in distress as she kept turning the knob as Kokoro and Ariel looked after the unconscious Kunio.

"Check Kunio for a heartbeat!" Ariel advised and Kokoro did just that. She leaned down and pressed her head against his chest. The heartbeat was very much still there, but he was still unconscious, as if he was in a deep sleep.

"Look what I've got~" Jika crooned as she held Kunio's Inner Scholar between her two fingers. She then noticed Renge clutching onto Kokokitty quite protectively and telepathically brought Kokokitty to her.

For once, the girls noticed the Inner Scholar turning into a very dark tone, like pitch black the longer it was out. Had it always been like this? Once it became unrecognizable, Jika fused it with Kokokitty to turn it into a Delinquous.

"Now run amok, Delinquous!" Jika called out. But, instead of Kokokitty turning into some strange monstrous looking animately inanimate creature, Kokokitty took on a humanoid figure, with a sleek, slender lilac body, feline features and piercing silver eyes.

"Meow~" The Delinquous Kokokitty taunted.

"Uh, that doesn't look like a regular Delinquous.." Kanari pointed out, cheeks flushed red.

"Rules are, anything with a face gets to look like that." Jika informed.

"Lovely." Renge remarked flatly as she removed her Fountain pen of Knowledge from her pocket.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" Renge and Kanari shouted together as their red and blue light show commenced.

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic announced.

"You know, I still feel like we need that motto..." Arithmetic mentioned.

"We'll work on one when we have our third Cure.." Literature promised.

"So which one of you stitched me up so crudely~?" The Delinquous crooned as it darted up to the girls, attempting to slash them up with her claws," I'm practically bursting at my seams!"

Arithmetic pointed to Literature and was delivered a angry glare in return. The Delinquous then engaged in combat with only Literature.

"So you're my creator? What a lame excuse for a seamstress!" The Delinquous cackled as she continued to slash Cure Literature up.

"Hey, sowing's not my specialty! I only dabble in it!" Literature defended, wincing away the stinging sensation she was getting from the fresh cuts on her arms from the Delinquous.

"Then how does it feel..." The Delinquous asked as it pressed Literature against the floor,"...To be ripped to shreds by your own creation?!"

Just as the Delinquous was going to impale Literature with her very long claws, Arithmetic kicked the Delinquous in it's side and sent it flying to the other side of the room.

"Thanks..." Literature gasped out as she sat up straight while trying to catch her breath.

"Don't mention it." Arithmetic said as she zoomed towards the Delinquous.

The Delinquous drove a kick into Arithmetic's stomach and just as Arithmetic was going to send a punch in her direction, she blocked it with her leg raised up very high. Arithmetic then swung her fist up into the air and hit the Delinquous beneath it's chin. It moaned out in pain as it was hurled up into the air for a moment but then it landed on it's feet as, it was cat or at least, some form of cat.

The Delinquous then dashed up to Arithmetic and held her up by her dress in a death grip. Arithmetic had a strong feeling the Delinquous' claws were piercing holes into her dress and she fought desperately to break free from the demonic cat's clutch. Being six feet up in the air and her legs being quite close to the Delinquous' 'torso', Arithmetic kicked at the Delinquous relentlessly until the Delinquous' grip weakened. Kicking it the torso wasn't working as well as Arithmetic thought it would but all it took was one unintentional kick to the face and the Delinquous flinched, dropping Arithmetic in the process.

"You wretched little brat!" The Delinquous spat. She then turned to around and witnessed Literature running straight up to her. The Cure clad in red then attempted to land a punch on the Delinquous but with no avail, as her fist was caught by the monster cat.

"Oh, do you want somebody to play with too?" The Delinquous jeered as she made a duplicate of itself," Suit yourself!"

And so, the fight dragged on longer than intended as the both girls were struggling majorly against fighting their Delinquous.

"What's this? I thought you girls could put up a better fight..." One of the Delinquouses said as it scratched up Arithmetic's face. Before the Delinquous could scratch her up anymore, she used Geometric Frenzy to block it's attack.

"It's not much of a contest with you two alone!" The Delinquous cried as it tried to land a kick to Literature's chest, who evaded the attack just in time as she used Poetic Jurisdiction.

"But, it's not like that's a bad thing..you girls are weak of heart, not unlike that selfish, worthless boy with the unrequited love downstairs!" The Delinquous cried.

"Boy with unrequited love...?" Literature repeated, sounding very much puzzled.

"Downstairs, huh?" Arithmetic repeated.

It didn't take long for the girls to figure out it was Kunio she was talking about, both feeling quite enraged with her comment. Despite not knowing Kunio for long, they both could tell something was up with him and Kokoro. And while it may have been that his love was unrequited, he wasn't any of those words that the Delinquous described him with.

"Having an unrequited love doesn't translate to Kunio being selfish!" Literature shouted as she landed a punch to the Delinquous' face.

Arithmetic leapt up and land behind the Delinquous, swiftly kicking her in the back. The Delinquous was sent onto it's knees and merged back with it's duplicate, feeling much too weak to be split in two for longer.

"Everything happens for a reason. And if Kunio can't be with Kokoro in that sense, it doesn't mean he still can't be Kokoro's irreplaceable friend!" Arithmetic shouted as her and Literature stood in their typical fighting stance for their dual attack.

"Pre! Ty! Cure! Brilliant boisterous barrage!" The Cures shouted out in unison. Feeling quite battered, but not defeated, the Delinquous decided to use it's last resort attack.

"Since it's come down to this, now you get to watch me burst!" The Delinquous shrieked as it's stitches began to rip.

"Burst?" Literature asked in fear,"No way..I won't let that happen!"

"I'll save Kokokitty, ok?" Arithmetic said as she put a protective hand in front of Literature. Literature nodded and watched Arithmetic do so.

"Pretty Cure, Problem-solving Paradox!" Arithmetic cried out as the atmosphere turned blue in mid-sentence. The Delinquous was purified and didn't burst apart as it intended, leaving Kokokitty intact and Kunio's teal Inner Scholar returning to Kunio, once Jika disappeared in a fit of rage and unlocking the doors inevitably.

After the guests returned, still a bit on edge for the first hour after the incident, the party for the most part, returned to normal. Ariel was sitting with Matsuri chatting away when Kunio approached the girls, an apprehensive look written all over his face.  
Kunio began to talk to her,"Hi Ariel, I'm...sorry if I seemed a little weird earlier. Koko never told me she was seeing someone and I..."

"...Apology accepted." Ariel said warmly as she invited the boy to join their conversation.

"Now you really have to tell who your man is, it's been hours since you got here!" Kokoro beckoned.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. So he's in grade and...his name's Nao." Renge debriefed, an enormous smile made it's way onto her face, hoping the smile would be infectious enough to reach Kokoro. But instead, for a split second, Kokoro's face fell. She then asked Renge,

"As in, Nao...Han?" Kokoro asked.

Renge nodded her head vigorously and awaited Kokoro's response to this. Kokoro giggled softly and smiled back to Renge.

"I'm happy for you. You know, he's been needing someone like you in his life. You're so cheerful and uplifting and, probably going to be a better girlfriend than I was to him." Kokoro mused.

"Wait, you went out with Nao?" Renge asked, a blank expression now on her face.

"For two years. But that was a long time ago, I've had a few other partners after him. But Nao can't say the same." Kokoro confided.

"Oh, yeah that's right! A friend mentioned to me that he had the one girlfriend, but then they broke up. But I would've never guessed it was you, you don't feel awkward around me right? Or angered or anything?" Renge sputtered.

Kokoro chuckled gently," Not at all, like I said, Nao needs a girl like you. A light to his shadow. But, if you ever need any advice, I'm always here."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it." Renge confessed.

Then, suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"Huh, I wonder who that could be at this hour?" Kokoro asked as she and Renge walked up to the door. When Kokoro opened the door, they found a girl who was rather tall, with a peachy complexion and luscious chestnut coloured hair that reached her shoulders and hazel eyes. She possessed a very stoic expression on her face as dressed in expensive looking clothes.

"Sakurami, you came after all!" Kokoro greeted," Come in, come in!"

"I'm not staying, I'm just here to drop this off. I'm sorry I couldn't make it tonight, I made plans before I got the invite.." The girl explained as she handed an envelope to Kokoro.

"No, it's ok. I did give out the invites quite late anyways.." Kokoro responded as the girl stuck her hands in her pockets.

"Well, my ride's waiting on me, so I'll see you on Monday alright?" The girl said as she walked back to the car in the driveway.

"Alright, drive safe!" Kokoro cried out as she shut the door. She opened the envelope after shutting the door.

"I invited her because we worked on a project in Science together," Kokoro explained as she carefully opened the envelope.

"And she's in your grade?" Renge asked.

"Yeah, her name's Chiyo and she's a little shy, well I think she is, but she seems nice enough." Kokoro answered.

Kokoro opened the envelope, revealing a birthday card with 3500 yen inside of it.

"Wow...she didn't have to give me _this_ much!" Kokoro exclaimed, shocked with how much money she received, expecting much less than that.

"I guess money is no object for her..." Renge gawked.

"Guess not.." Kokoro commented as the two returned to the party.


	8. Cold as Ice

A few days later, after Kokoro's party, that uncomfortable, yet livable period away from Pretty Cure set in for Renge and Kanari. It wasn't easy holding such a giant secret like Pretty Cure for the girls, not to mention, they barely made it out of that last battle in one piece. Renge still even had those marks from the Kokokitty Delinquous on her arms but thankfully, her shirt had no problem in obscuring them. Both Renge and Kanari knew that pretending they weren't Pretty Cure at all wasn't the wisest thing to do, especially when they found themselves constantly pushing all these stressful thoughts regarding the matter to the back of their minds. But, the fact they were simply keeping a secret as big as this made them feel like they were isolating their friends. Which was the last thing they wanted to do. Renge had never been an open book, but usually, her secrets weren't capable of dominating her life like this , so not telling anyone made her feel like she was casted away into another world, a world reserved for only her, Kanari, Renny, Topher and whoever that third Pretty Cure, if she existed. So, if anything, not thinking about Pretty Cure was benefiting the girls, to an extent. Renge only wished these days of Pretty Cure could come to an end, because maybe then, she could actually take time and enjoy this school year and make the most of it by continuing to strive for those good grades she now needed to maintain and make some time for a certain someone. But then, whenever she thought of these Pretty Cure days coming to an end, it made her wonder how long these days would last. The idea of this 'quest', for lack of a better term, lasting for longer than intended was something that stressed Renge out. What if this Pretty Cure thing would end up taking over her life and she'd never get to go back to being a regular student, or person? Thoughts like these were the cause for all this internalized fear Renge had been holding but, with Kanari by her side, she felt like things couldn't get _that_ out of hand. Well, at least she hoped not.

"So, Renge...what do you plan on doing for the next piece? Something really deep again?" Shinko asked Renge during art class. Initially Renge had been a little fazed when Shinko called her by simply Renge rather than Kotori considering she was her superior. But, after getting to know Shinko, she realized she wasn't calling her Renge out of disrespect, it was just because she felt comfortable enough with her to call her Renge, which was something that Renge really respected Shinko for. Renge was still brainstorming in her sketchbook. This next project was going to be centered around emotions. The first years project was to pick an emotion written on a piece of paper in a hat and and a scene from another hat and create a piece based on it. Second years picked two emotions from a hat and had to figure out what emotion they made when overlapped and create a piece based on that.

Renge simply snickered," I have no clue as of yet but...I'm getting there."

"You third-years sure have it easy.." Shinko sighed as she looked down at her sketchbook," Getting the emotion melancholy with a opening a can of sardines is extremely limiting if you ask me."

Renge nodded in sympathy," You may be able to twist the words around somehow..."

"How's she supposed to twist words like that around?" Nao asked from beside her with a slight scoff.

"Well...it could be a can of live sardines that the person is opening to kill. Feeling happy because they take joy in killing fish and also sad because they don't get to eat the fish...?"

"Wow, Renge you're twisted..." Nao deadpanned.

"Now how's that for a twist?" Marco interjected from beside Nao.

"Would the sardines be able to live in the can?" Shinko then asked.

"Maybe not...unless the can is filled with water and there's only two of them inside.." Renge answered,"But you just gave me an idea. What if it the can isn't actually holding sardines and it's mislabeled? And instead it has like..."

She then turned quickly over to Nao,"...What's the coolest thing you can find in a tin can?"

Without missing a beat, Nao responded with," Chocolate milk."

"Ok, chocolate milk, or something like that." Renge suggested," See? Not as hard as you think!"

Shinko giggled," Thanks Renge, I think I might use that."

"And then there's my project..." Nao groaned as he looked down to the two words written on his page; Pride and tension. Not even Renge could help her poor boyfriend figure out something to do for his project.

"There's always the easy route for yours...have someone who has so much pride but at the same time is nervous to do something like give a speech or preform in a play." Renge suggested,"But then..."

"It's hard showing both of the emotions at the same time.." Nao pointed out," Unless I have an inset of the person's actual emotion, but I don't want this to look like some anime screen cap.."

Renge then pictured Nao as if he was an anime character and had his own anime. Despite being very much quiet and more likely to serve as the foil rather than protagonist, Nao could've been a decent main character. At least Renge thought so.

"Kawaii boy~" She crooned causing everyone nearby to look at her questioningly. Once Renge snapped back to earth, she noticed all the stares that she felt were rather uncalled for, and reddened immediately.

"I think that should be Nao's new name." Marco declared as he put his shoulder on the cringing boy.

"I think not." Nao hissed as he returned to his sketchbook.

Shinko then noticed something in Renge's open pencil book rattling around madly as if it had it's open free will.

"Um, Renge...I think your pen's, acting up.." Shinko stated uneasily as she pointed to Renge's fountain pen of knowledge. Renge looked over to the pen and watched it practically thrash about in Renge's pencil case. Renge drew a blank, never seeing the pen in such a state and had no clue just what to do about it.

"Um..sometimes..it just does that..not sure why.." Renge explained awkwardly as she snapped the pencil box shut. She took a mental note to show this to Renny when she got home.

Later, when she arrived in her bedroom, she showed Renny and Topher her pen, still shaking as wildly as before. Renny and Topher examined it for a few moments and nodded their heads.

"It wants to tell you something." Renny concluded.

"Tell me something? Oh, and uh...how is it going to do that?!" Renge asked as she raised her voice.

Topher gestured her to calm down before he explained the rest," All you have to do is get a piece of paper, and let it write down what it wants to tell you as you hold it. You don't have to do any of the writing, just keep it steady."

"Is it going to be something regarding the Pretty Cure or Temptation?" Renge asked hesitantly as she fished around her printer for some blank pages.

"Most likely.." Renny surmised as Renge sat down at her computer desk and placed the blank piece of paper down neatly. She slowly took the pen out from the pencil box and gingerly held it in her hands. Waiting for it to work it's magic, she took a deep breath as the pen thrashed about even more until she brought it just above the blank sheet of paper. And then, the pen wrote out the message for her. Engraving a beautifully written note that was beyond's Renge caliber for calligraphy, the pen wrote in a medium sized font and it wrote it's message swiftly. It felt so strange for a pen to be writing for her. But within the blink of an eye, it was all over. After the pen finished writing down it's gorgeously crafted message, it dropped down to the desk, lifeless again.

The three of them looked down to the page to read just what the pen had to say.

"Dressed in geolu is a ruthless fighter, with a resolve stronger than graphene, persuading her won't be an overnighter." The message was read by Renge, Renny and Topher.

Baffled by this peculiar and very odd message, Renge couldn't help but ask," What?"

"It's foretelling something. I think it's talking about the next Pretty Cure!" Topher exclaimed.

"Is this supposed to be some sort of hint? Because, this doesn't even make sense.." Renge admitted, feeling a little more defeated as she tried to understand it better with no avail.

"It's worded a little strangely, but it does..." Renny reassured as he read over the message.

Renge looked over it once more, deciding to read it more thoroughly. After that last read, it did make a little sense to her now, but only a little.

"Does the pen always write in riddles?" Renge asked impatiently as she crossed her arms.

"Most of the time, but sometimes, some of it's messages make more sense than others.." Renny replied as he eyed Renge's pen.

"Well, in any case, we need to show this to Kanari." Renge declared as she removed the message from the desk and folded it in two. Renny and Topher nodded in agreement and just as Renge was going to head off and send this to Kanari, something flew onto her windowsill.

"What the..." Renge trailed off as she inched closer to her uninvited visitor. Perched onto her windowsill was a crow with unsettling orchid coloured eyes who looked at Renge absently as it twitched immensely on the windowsill. The eyes of this bird were strange enough, but what really set this bird from the rest was the note tied onto it's neck, secured with a worn out grey lace.

"Should I?" Renge asked quietly, as if not to scare off the crow, to Renny and Topher. Both 'birds' seemed rather unsure themselves but, at the same time, something told them that this crow came to deliver some rather important news. Appearing somewhat reluctant, the two of them nodded and so, Renge withdrew the message from the crow cautiously. After thinking about it for a few moments, something about this whole thing seemed like Temptation had something to do with it.

It appeared Renge's prediction was correct, but this message, note unlike the one her pen had written for her, was also written in clues, like a riddle really.

"In this hall of revelations no bigger than five mansions, lies timeless facts of mankind's expansions. From fashion to art and stories not for the faint of heart,this place will be the battlefield of where our next battle shall start. Signed, Z." Renge read out," Well, despite it being terribly-written, it's easy to tell that they're talking about a-"

"-Museum?" Kanari finished as she entered Renge's room through the open window.

"You know, we have a perfectly good door downstairs, two of them, that you can enter from." Renge pointed out flatly.

"Well, maybe I'd used them if you didn't keep your window open all the time.." Kanari sneered.

"Yeah, you wait 'til winter." Renge warned," So, it appears that we've been challenged by Zephora, but it doesn't say _when_."

Kanari motioned Renge to give her the letter to see if there actual was a set time for this and Renge just overlooked it. Squinting her eyes and poking her tongue out a little in concentration, Kanari then asked out of nowhere.  
"So how was your date with your mystery boy?"

Renge scoffed, surprised by herself that she didn't tell actually tell Kanari about who her boyfriend was. She giggled awkwardly and looked down momentarily before she responded to Kanari," Somehow, we both got busy on Monday, so, we rescheduled for Sunday."

"Wow, for once, you're actually excited about a date." Kanari remarked, causing Renge to narrow her eyes at her," By the way, it's right down here. But...I can't read it."

The two girls looked at what seemed to be a little blur on the bottom corner of the page, both of them very unsure of what was was inscribed the page and both of questioning how the writer of this message could even write so small.

"Hm, what if we just..." Kanari thought aloud as she took off Renge's glasses from her face.

Renge shouted, sounding a little embarrassed,"Hey those aren't magnifyi-!"

But, the location showed up crystal clear after being placed under Renge's glasses.

"Takarazaki Museum at ten o'clock, huh?" Kanari read out, while Renge squinted as she was looking at the location.

A few hours later, by nine forty-five, the girls, now transformed, arrived at the closed museum, nobody being here except the two of them so far. As the two walked around the museum, Literature felt felt uneasy as she walked around the museum. Something about this felt very...off. It was no surprise Arithmetic and Topher were able to disable the alarms but, something else was missing. Where were the guards? And, just how were they even able to enter the museum in the first place? It should've been locked but no, once they had approached the giant door that led into the museum earlier, it was closed, but just a simple push was all it took to open it. That part really put Literature on edge. The museum itself wasn't as big as the average museum, maybe just a little bit smaller. Most of the museums in town focused on a certain part in history and this one's main focus was Ancient Rome. Strange that a European part of history had it's own museum, but Literature heard a few rumors that this museum was going to be demolished so that it could be merged with another, since it was smaller in comparison to a lot of others in the city. She had maybe came here once or twice as a child and surprisingly enough, the museum didn't really change one bit. There were countless paintings and displays that could be found all over the museum and even life-sized statues of Caesar. While walking through to museum, Literature and Arithmetic stopped to admire a miniature model of the Colosseum.

"I bet there are some of these that we could get in the gift shop." Arithmetic stated.

"At this hour in the night?" Literature scoffed.

"So lovely for you two to have made it." A voice echoed throughout the Cures turned around, searching for the owner of the voice. Standing on a what appeared to be a rather unstable pillar on the other side of the room was Zephora.

"Why did you call us here?" Literature questioned, her voice booming throughout the museum," And what have you done with the guards?!"

"Sharp as a tact I must say.." Zephora remarked as a man bolted towards the girls, dressed in was seemed to be a security guards' outfit.

Literature evaded the attack clumsily and fell against Arithmetic. She stood back up quickly and began to spar with the man. The guard kept lunging for her as he attacked, trying to land a punch on her. Literature evaded each attack and didn't take the offensive until another guard came running to her.

Arithmetic was also stuck trying to fend off a pair of guards. The two guards were in sync, no matter where they were and so, that gave Arithmetic an idea. She positioned herself in between them and making sure she wouldn't miss a beat, she ducked down and the two guards knocked each other out. Arithmetic made a V-sign and went over to aid her fellow Cure in need.

Literature's guards weren't as synched as Arithmetic's were, but at least their fight was now evenly matched.

From atop of the pillar, Zephora watched the girls fight the guards that she was controlling but her mind was elsewhere. She was thinking back to a couple of hours earlier, when she was having a bordering on heated discussion with Jika and Rishi.

 _"Don't you two even wonder about how those two cultivate enough power in a matter of seconds when it looks like the fight's about to draw to a close?" Zephora spat._

 _Jika seemed a bit weary, not able to give Zephora an answer made her feel guilty, and Rishi didn't even appear to acknowledge her question._

 _"It's because you two keep motivating them."_

 _"What?! Just how are we motivating them?!" Jika asked sounding as fretful as ever._

 _"You keep saying things like 'Oh this person is a waste of time because of so and so' and that riles them up. Don't you see? Trying to demotivate them does the opposite of what you intend. " Zephora explained._

 _"So you're saying, we shouldn't say anything during the fight." Rishi asked absently._

 _"Exactly that. If you want these nuisances to be finished already."_

Zephora watched as the girls finished the guards off, and took notice off how tired the girls were getting. She smirked and held out a black Inner Scholar, ready for the fun to really begin.

Fusing the Inner Scholar with a model of a lighthouse, Zephora sent to the Delinquous to battle against the Pretty Cure.

Arithmetic and Literature watched as the huge lighthouse came stomping towards them, only now finished with the guards. The girls seemed a little shocked, feeling very stupid for not realizing the guards were a diversion.

Knowing that they were the only ones who could defeat the Delinquous, the girls continued to fight for a long time. Feeling very much depleted of their energy, their attacks seemed somewhat aimless and not to mention a little weak.

"Why didn't I see that coming?" Arithmetic cursed quietly.

The Delinquous then got a hold of Literature and flung her across the room as if she was a rag doll. She crashed into one of the displayed and knocked a pillar that came to her waist onto the ground. The pillar broke in half as Literature collided with it. Literature feeling pretty sore from that collision with the pillar, began to shout at the Delinquous.

"Could you not do that?! 'Cuz I'd really appreciate it if I didn't have to wake up tomorrow with a sore-!"

"Lit!" Arithmetic yell-whispered hastily.

"What?" Literature questioned impatiently.

"Somebody in here?" A voice asked from outside of the room. The two Cures froze up with fear, waiting to see if the person who asked that would enter the room and tried to think of what to do if they did come in.

Literature's first impulse was to say no, which she did. Arithmetic slapped her forehead and Zephora looked over to the door curiously, to see who it would be to walk in on them.

"You're funny." The voice responded dryly as they walked in. Arithmetic and Literature scrambled to hide somewhere, while Zephora just stood on the pillar stoically. Even the Delinquous stood still as if not to draw attention to itself.

The Cures hid behind a pair of pillars and peered from behind them to see who their infiltrator was. Standing in the middle of the room was Chiyo Sakurami, the girl from Kokoro's party holding a flashlight. Both Cures seemed very surprised to find her here and wondered what she would be doing here at this hour in the night.

"Excuse me? Would you please show yourself?" Chiyo asked loudly as she swung her flashlight around," I know you're in here."

"I'm sorry, but what's a girl like you doing here at this hour in the night?" Zephora asked. Chiyo flashed her light up to Zephora, seeming pretty unimpressed.

"I always check up on the museum on Mondays." Chiyo declared stoically," And you shouldn't be sitting on those pillars, it's dangerous."

"You think this is dangerous?" Zephora jeered," Well then, let me show you dangerous.."

She the gestured the Delinquous to attack her and so, the Delinquous did as ordered. Watching the gigantic being lunge for her, Chiyo felt her heart stop for a moment and was petrified on the spot.

"Pretty Cure, Poetic Jurisdiction!" Literature shouted from mid-air as she emerged from her hiding spot.

"Pretty Cure, Geometric Frenzy!" Arithmetic cried out as she slid in front of Chiyo. The two attacks were enough to get the Delinquous down for a few moments. And the Cures took advantage of this as they began to literally push Chiyo out of the room.

"What in the hell is going on?" Chiyo asked, a bit of impatience creeping up in her voice.

"...Dream?" Arithmetic answered, unsure that Chiyo would buy it.

"Yeah, nice try. I'm getting security in here." Chiyo warned as she left.

"No need." Zephora snickered as she pointed to the pile of guards laying on the ground unconsciously.

"What the...what did you do?" Chiyo asked sounding very shocked and somewhat skeptic at the same time.

"Those girls did that." Zephora answered as she pointed to the Pretty Cure.

"Why?!" Chiyo asked, raising her voice.

Literature explained in irritation,"Look, she controlled them so that they would try and defeat us. So, we had to do that, but they're safe and that's all that ma-"

"Answer me this already. Just what is going on?" Chiyo asked viciously, her patience wearing thin.

Literature had never found herself in a position where she was being probed to answer these questions regarding Pretty Cure, not to mention by a rather intimidating girl.

Sighing loudly, Literature answered her," Look, if we don't purify that thing. It's going to destroy, us, this building, and heaven knows what else."

"It's going to destroy...the museum?" Chiyo asked desolately. Literature and Arithmetic seemed a little fazed that Chiyo cared about the museum more than them, but something told the Cures that it was inevitable.

"Yeah, it's going to destroy the museum if we don't do anything about it." Literature responded solemnly.

"Then let me help." Chiyo pleaded.

Literature and Arithmetic looked at her in shock, not even expecting her to say something like that.

Arithmetic attempted to make light of the subject," Ha, how are _you_ supposed to help? You're just a civilian, you need to be able to transform, like _us_."

"Then show me how to do it." Chiyo begged.

Arithmetic responded,"Um, it's not as simple as you think, I mean, first, you need this handy pen, and then-"

"Just let me help, I'll do anything to protect this place!" Chiyo cried.

Then, out of nowhere, an array of yellow lights appeared and enveloped Chiyo within them. The two Cures looked at the encasement shocked and Renny and Topher appeared out from their hiding spot.

"Now you must say 'Pretty Cure, study session' and hold that pen up high!" Renny instructed, motioning to the yellow Fountain Pen of Knowledge in Chiyo's hand. Chiyo's eyes darted to the Fountain Pen of Knowledge and nodded attentively.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" Chiyo called out. The very yellow lights twinkled endlessly around Chiyo and were so bright in the dark room of the museum, everyone was forced to shut their eyes. She twirled around and encircled the pen around her body, causing a yellow dress to appear on her with a dark gold toga-like wrap pinned from her yellow bow and reached around below the skirt of her dress. Holding her pen to her arms, a pair of gold bangles materialized onto her wrists and with a flip of her hair, her chestnut brown locks grew very long and blonde. Her hair then danced around as if it had a mind of it's own and styled itself into a crown-shaped bun with half of her hair snaking down from the bun as a ponytail. She then dashed down with the encasement of yellow lights and a gymnast-like somersault and a pair of simple lemon-coloured boots formed onto her legs. Then, throwing her pen up in the air and catching a moment after, she tapped it against her bow, and an brooch with an hourglass appeared on the bow. Finally, she tapped her pen against the side of her forehead, shutting her eyes. When she opened them again, they were now like little topazes implanted in the place of her regular hazel eyes.

"The subject of generations past with tales that are sure to last, Cure History!" Cure History introduced.

Both Cures looked at their brand-new teammate, mouths agape and absolutely shocked. Cure History looked down at herself, feeling quite confused as well.

"I don't believe this." Arithmetic gawked.

"I...I'm, I looked so, different." History observed as she looked down at her outfit. Something about it, even though it wasn't really her style, made her feel very powerful and it was as if this change of appearance was giving her courage to fight back.

"But now, I can save the museum!" She cried before she turned her gaze to the Delinquous.

"Prepared to be destroyed." History threatened ominously as she jumped onto a pillar and jumped from that pillar to kick the Delinquous down. She was actually quite the formidable opponent, to the Cures' surprise and watched her in astonishment as she pummeled the Delinquous.

Arithmetic snickered doubtfully," You know, I still don't believe this."

"So I guess geolu is yellow in some other language..." Literature mused, causing Arithmetic to stare at her in question," But, we need to help her."

Arithmetic nodded and the two Cures raced to History's side. When they began to fight alongside her, History seemed a little disapproving of their help, but decided against telling them otherwise. History fought relentlessly and did everything in her power to knock the Delinquous off it's feet. Defeating this thing now felt like her responsibility, because it was planning to demolish something so important to her. Knowing all too well she couldn't let this thing have it's way, she continued to fight tirelessly and with one final blow to the Delinquous' center, it toppled onto the ground.

Taking a deep breath laboriously, she dusted off her dress a little and turned to her fellow Cures, who appeared to be pretty drained of all their energy.

"How do I purify this, this...thing?" She gasped out.

"Just calm down, and let the words come to you.." Literature instructed slowly.

History nodded and did as told, reaching a state of nothingness as she awaited those words.

"Pretty Cure, Ancient Revolution!" She shouted as the atmosphere turned yellow in mid-sentence. The Delinquous was entrapped in an hourglass and a light went off inside of it, likely purifying the Delinquous. Once the hourglass disappeared, so did the Delinquous and the aqua coloured Inner Scholar went off in search of it's owner while the Lighthouse returned to normal. As all of this happened, Zephora vanished back to Temptation.

"History, you did it!" Arithmetic exclaimed as she and Literature came up to Cure History.

"So, we've finally got our third Cure on our team!" Literature rejoiced. History de-transformed by simply clicking her pen and returned to being Chiyo. The girls de-transformed with her and revealed their identities to her.

"So, I'm Kotori Renge, I go to Seinori too, and I'm in third year." Renge introduced as she extended a hand towards her. Cautiously Chiyo shook her hand.

"And I'm Mizukage Kanari, third year at Seinori but you can call me Mizukana..." Kanari introduced as she gave Chiyo a wink.

"Not like this is necessary, but whatever. Sakurami Chiyo, second year at Seinori." Chiyo introduced briefly," And if I'm not mistaken, I saw you two at Kokoro's party the other day."

"Yup! So Chiyo, would you like to join our team?" Renge asked, trying to sound as friendly as possible.

"Um, I'm sorry..I don't think so." History declared in brutally honest tone.

The girls looked at her in disbelief, Renge feeling her heart sink a little," Wha..why not?"

"It sounds like this is a long term thing, and I have no interest in wasting my precious time doing things like this. This was only a one-time thing." Chiyo debriefed as she turned her back on the girls.

"But Chi-chan, you have to!" Kanari pleaded as she tried to get Chiyo to stay for a few more moments so the girls could convince her.

"Don't touch me." Chiyo declared imperatively," And I don't have to. This isn't my job."

"But you transformed! You're a chosen one!" Renny claimed.

"Chibiyo! Are you down here?" A deep gruff voice bellowed from outside of the room.

"Yes, I'm coming!" Chiyo shouted, sounding a little embarrassed by the name she was called by.

"You two better be leaving now, otherwise things aren't going to be pretty here." Chiyo threatened.

"What about them?" Renge pointed to the guards. Unfortunately, as she did that, they woke up one by one, seeming quite confused as to what just happened.

"It seems they can take care of themselves from here. Have a good night, you two." Chiyo said as she left the room of the museum.

"So that's what that meant." Renge remarked as she thought back to the message the pen foretold.

"How are we going to get her on our team?" Topher wondered in distress.

"She seems a little menacing...I don't really know how we're supposed to get her on our team." Renge sighed.

"Well, she said something about this being some waste of her precious time. Maybe we can convince her otherwise!" Kanari suggested.

"What I'd like to know is what she does with her precious time." Renge mused.

"That's it! We'll follow her after school and she what she does!" Kanari exclaimed.

"You realize if we get caught she'll probably kill us." Renge stated," But, if this is all we can do...I guess we may as well do it."

And so, the next day after school, the girls went on their proposed endeavor from the night before in search of Chiyo. Renge had little to no clue as to where Chiyo would've been at this hour as most of the students were overflowing into the hallways from club. Sadly enough, Renge could only admit to ever seeing Chiyo a handful of times. Once she met up with Kanari however, it seemed not knowing where Chiyo was would be the least of her worries.

"You seem a little too excited..." Renge pointed out cautiously as she looked at the seemingly eternal, ever-so devious grin painted onto her best friend's face.

"Let's just say I found a little something out about our little Cure History..." Kanari stated in a somewhat mischievous tone. Renge raised her eyebrows, not seeming as surprised as Kanari hoped. The reason why Renge wasn't actually that surprised was because gathering intel was just one of Kanari's many rarely used specialties, but even though she used it so infrequently, she never seemed out-of-practice whenever she used it.

The girls walked in the direction that Kanari was leading them to, with Renny and Topher tagging along inside Renge's backpack. Today was going to be big, so they knew they had to be present for this. As they grew inches closer to the mall, which seemed to be where Kanari was leading them to, Renge became a tad skeptic.

"Why are we going to the centre?" Renge interrogated flatly.

"You'll see~" Kanari snickered as she led the way.

The girls walked through the grocery store and into the actual mall, where many students from school could be seen hanging out or even in some of the stores. But, as they went deeper into the mall, Kanari's pace slowed down, as if she was searching for something.

"Can't find her?" Renge asked as she watched Kanari peer through every store from where she was standing.

"My source said she was going to be in the centre today." Kanari pouted, still trying to see if she could locate Chiyo.

"Just the centre? They could be more specific?" Renge questioned.

"I would've had to pay them for specifications." Kanari responded as she walked briskly through the mall.

"Oh, come on! Now how are we going to find her?" Renge moaned as Kanari continued to walk deeper into the mall.

"We're just going to have to search for her ourselves." Kanari shrugged, looking around her for any sign of Chiyo.

"So, did your source tell you what she was doing at the centre today?" Renge asked as Kanari was checking beneath a bench for Chiyo.

"Not even." Kanari answered as she stood back and checked behind a plant," But something tells that she's doing a deviant would do..."

Renge narrowed her eyes skeptically, "Right, and what would that-"

From the corner of her eye, Renge saw someone who looked a whole lot like Chiyo in one of the stores. Renge spun around, to see if she was correct. Though, Chiyo was plain in appearance, there was something about that single glimpse that made Renge recognize the person as Chiyo instantly. Looking closer towards the girl, it seems her guess was right.

"Come on," Renge instructed as she held Kanari's hand and walked over to Chiyo. Renge looked up at the store and noticed that it wasn't a store, but rather a smoothie bar.

"Seriously?" Renge remarked with a slight scoff, expecting a little better from Chiyo. But then again, Chiyo was only a second-year.

Kanari complained, "Why are going-?"

Before she finished her sentence, she too saw Chiyo behind the cash register at the smoothie bar. Dressed in a cyan crew neck t-shirt and black tights with her hair tied in a high ponytail, Chiyo was pressing away buttons on the cash register and delivering change to a customer.

"What?" Kanari exasperated, her mouth lifting into a grin," This is gonna be good."

Kanari charged up to the smoothie parlor and Renge followed behind, wondering how well this may end. The two stood in line at the smoothie bar and watched as Chiyo was madly darting around the smoothie bar, making smoothies for customers and working the cash register while taking orders. She handed every smoothie she made with a rather fake smile on her face. Well, it seemed fake to Renge and Kanari, considering the two had never seen her smile up until now.

Once they got to the front of the line, there order was taken by Chiyo.

"Hi, welcome to Super Smoothies how can I..." Chiyo greeted before she met the gaze of her customers,"...Help you.."

"You can help by joining our team." Renge suggested.

"I already told you two last night, I'm not doing it." Chiyo said indifferently with an annoyed look on her face.

"So, this is what you're doing with your 'precious time' ?" Kanari snickered," And to think, you made everyone think you're rich!"

"Before you make any more idiotic accusations, I think I should probably tell you...I never said I was rich." Chiyo informed impatiently.

"Please, Sakurami, this is really important, you don't really know what's at stake here!" Renge pleaded.

"Look, it doesn't concern me. I did what I did last night to protect the museum." Chiyo declared as her tone was bordering on furious," So you two either order something, or leave."

"Well, if you're going to be like that..." Kanari interrupted coolly,"...Then give us the pen so we can replace you."

"Take it." Chiyo declared as she fished around the pocket of her tights and handed Kanari the yellow pen.

"Well, it was nice doing business with you, Chi-chan." Kanari stated as she walked off.

"That's Sakurami to you." Chiyo called out in irritation.

Renge caught up to Kanari, looking at her as if she was insane," Why did you make her give us the pen back? Now she can't even transform!"

"There's no point in her keeping it if she doesn't want to transform." Kanari pointed out as she tossed Chiyo's pen up in the air continually,

"But...we can't replace her! Can we?" Renge questioned before Kanari halted the two of them to a stop.

"Renge, meet my source." Kanari introduced as the two of them were at the doorway leading to one of the entrances to the mall. Leaning on the wall with his foot against said wall was Manaki Hijima, with a walking boot on in the place of his old cast.

"Hijima? How did you know Chiyo works at Super Smoothie?" Renge asked.

"Because last July I had a thing for her..." Manaki admitted with a nonchalant shrug.

"And how did that end?" Renge inquired hesitantly.

"She said she wouldn't go out with me in a million years..." Manaki answered as he balled one of his fists," She's so damn cold, like ice! I literally spent a month's allowance after buying smoothies for a week straight during July just to get close to her."

"Wow, that bad huh." Renge commented, who was surprised that anyone, let alone Manaki, could fall for the cold-hearted Chiyo.

"The smoothies there aren't even that good! Or maybe it's just her, I bet she spat in all of mine..." Manaki remarked bitterly.

"Well, if her saliva is as venomous as her words, it's definitely a possibility that the smoothies being bad were her fault." Kanari theorized.

"So, did you get whatever you needed from her?" Manaki asked as he casually rested his elbow on Kanari's shoulder.

"No, we need more info on her, we can't reach out to her like this!" Kanari complained as she removed Manaki's elbow off her shoulder angrily.

"Fine, whatever. Since your first attempt didn't work..." Manaki grumbled as he motioned the two girls closer," I hear that she forced herself to grow up a bit..not sure why but, that's all I know."

Renge and Kanari looked at each in question, and wondered whether or not Chiyo's coldness had to do with this fragment of information. In all honestly, now that they thought about it, they were both so different from Chiyo. Ironically, though she was a year younger than them, she was so mature and aloof, unreachable really. Plus, she was taller than them. Not to mention, she was very level-headed for the most part, considering taking up a request to become a magical girl and save the world from the forces of some evil was in truth a mildly unreasonable thing to ask of the average person. Maybe, Chiyo wasn't actually as cruel as they thought she was, just rational.

"Anyways, I've got some other skaters to meet up with so I'll see you two around." Manaki said as he bumped fists with Kanari.

Kanari held up Chiyo's pen and looked at it vacantly, her and Renge lost in thought.

"You think we were being too...unreasonable?" Kanari asked as she watched the gem on the tip of the pen glint in the light.

Renge sighed as she took Renny and Topher out from the bag to ask him a question," Can we replace Chiyo?"

Renny and Topher exchanged expressions and Renny answered solemnly," I'm afraid not."

"Seriously? But come on, it's not like you have to be that qualified for the job! I mean, look at us!" Renge retorted as she gestured to her and Kanari.

"And look at her..." Kanari muttered quietly, though the comment was heard by Renge, who assumed the girl said it in a perverse sense.

"Well, you saw her fight. We need that kinda power on our side..." Kanari pointed out. Renge nodded with a small sigh and inquired,

"Then, why does it have to be her?"

"Her strong emotions and need to protect the museum allowed her to create the Fountain Pen of Knowledge from her feelings, no one else can use that pen but her." Renny explained grimly.

"So, then...I guess we have to introduce her to the bigger picture." Kanari suggested.

"If she'll give us the chance to.." Renge sighed as she looked over to the smoothie bar.

Elsewhere, particularly at Temptasia's castle-like head-quarters, Temptasia was sitting alone on top of a grey stone throne. The room was very empty and Temptasia liked it that way. It was peaceful without anyone around. It gave her time by herself to strategize, to think, to try and remember what she seemed to have forgotten. Usually, whenever one of her denizens entered the room, she secretly loathed it, as their attempts to defeat the Pretty Cure were usually foiled, so she had grown accustomed to their apologies and them swearing to get them the next time.

Then suddenly, the man who appeared with her when she attempted to destroy the Book of Omnipotence appeared before her, on knee with his head bowed down. She smirked a little and watched as strands of his spiky teal hair hung over his face.

"How's the search been going?" She asked softly.

Still on the one knee, the man said nothing. Temptasia sighed gently and looked down at him with a bit of sympathy.

"I know, it's hard searching for that damn book when there are millions of books in this world." Temptasia comforted," But don't worry, I know you'll find it."

She then stroked his cheek affectionately with the back of her hand, observing the contrast between her lily-white skin and his unnatural grey complexion," After all you are-"

Temptasia then felt the presence of one of her underlings just outside of the room, and not wanting to keep them waiting, she summoned them in.

"Zephora, get in here already." Temptasia called out flatly as she retracted her hand away from the man.

Zephora walked into the room uneasily and Temptasia could feel all of those tense vibes Zephora was emitting.

"So, I heard you were present for the awakening of the third Pretty Cure.." Temptasia remarked, her voice now ominous sounding.

"Y-yes, I was. But I can redeem myself!" Zephora claimed.

Temptasia then snapped her fingers and conjured up an image of someone who seemed to have had a corrupted Inner Scholar inside the mall.

"Well what're you waiting for?" Temptasia asked.

The black Inner Scholar was now in Zephora's hands, lying there in defeat. It did struggle for a few seconds but realizing, it was pointless, the little creature just simply gave up. The two of them were outside of the mall and in the parking lot, with nobody around conveniently.

"If this one can survive without the Pretty Cure trying to purify it, then perhaps it'll stand a chance to try and find it..." Zephora mused as she fused the Inner Scholar with a nearby motorcycle.

"Delinquous!" The monstrous motorcycle bellowed.

The girls heard the Delinquous' cry from inside of the mall. Renge shut her ear out of impulse and Kanari looked through the glass doors of the mall's entrance to see if she could find the Delinquous. It wasn't actually that hard to find, it was just right there, all huge and destructive as usual. The girls drew out their pens and glanced over to Chiyo, who was looking outside in dismay as well.

"So, we're just going to go without her?" Renge inquired as she watched the Delinquous with Kanari from where they were standing.

"It's all we can do.." Kanari shrugged as the two rushed out from the mall. Once they were outside, and made sure no once was around, the girls transformed.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" They called out together, the red and blue lights enveloping them.

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic announced.

The Cures stood only a few feet away from the Delinquous, questioning what their first move should be. The Delinquous was revving up it's engine, trying to alarm the girls and catch them off-guard, but with no avail. Zephora bit her lip, knowing that of course, the Pretty Cure would've inevitably shown up. But this time, the new Cure wasn't with them today. Did she decide against joining them, it would've appeared so.

"Where's the new girl?" Zephora asked as the Cures began to run for their lives from the motorcycle, who appeared to be trying to run them over.

"She didn't want to a Pretty Cure!" Literature screamed as she stood her ground as held her hands in front of herself, with her head facing the side.

"Pretty Cure, Poetic Hyper Jurisdiction!" Literature shouted as pink, sturdy, giant quills came charging out from her palms and towards the Delinquous.

The Delinquous, standing on a single wheel was now teetering as if it lost it's balance and fought to get that balance back, but was unsuccessful, as it came crashing down on an assembly of cars nearby.

"It's gonna take a lot of Geometric Frenzy to fix those up..." Arithmetic cringed as the Delinquous got back up.

"She didn't want to be a Pretty Cure? Smart girl, you two should've followed suit!" Zephora shouted as the Delinquous rammed in Arithmetic and threw her in the wall of the mall. Arithmetic winced the pain away as she slid down from the wall. It had been a while she had been thrown around like that, and thinking about made more times she would have to deal with this kind of pain given to her made her cringe again.

"If she doesn't want to be a Pretty Cure, it's fine, we can handle it! It's her choice! And there's no way we're going to force her into this!" Arithmetic shouted.

From the inside of the mall, on the inside door, Chiyo stood there helplessly, feeling her heart sink and she watched Arithmetic dust herself off and reenter the fray. She looked at the girls as if they were total idiots. Why were they risking their lives like this? Was whatever they were fighting for worth all this? It had to be, if they kept going at it like this. It was painful watching the girls get beaten down so mercilessly, but...it didn't really matter to her. At least, that was what she originally decided. But, all of sudden, she felt herself wavering as she watched the girls with pity, knowing well that she could've done something.

"Why is this so important to them?" Chiyo as she clasped her hand over her heart,"...And why do I want to help them again so badly?"

"What should I do?" Chiyo choked out in frustration as she shut her eyes and hung her head for a second.

When she opened her eyes again and looked past to the parking lot, she caught her reflection, but it wasn't actually the reflection she was expecting.

"The right thing, that's what you should do." A reflection of Cure History answered her.

Literature was tossed up in the air by the Delinquous while Arithmetic was skidding against the ground, the latter being thrown by the Delinquous from a very low position. When she finally stopped skidding, she laid there for a second, feeling too sore to even think of getting up.

Literature was able to land on her feet but once she became aware of her surroundings, noticed the Delinquous was about to drop it's front wheel on to her.

Looking up desolately, she croaked," Well...there goes that.."

"Give me my pen!" Chiyo screamed as she dashed outside to the scene. Arithmetic tossed her the pen and hung her head backwards.

"I thought you'd never ask.." Arithmetic smirked as Chiyo caught the pen.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" Chiyo cried as an array of yellow lights flickered around her.

"The subject of generations past with tales that are sure to last, Cure History!" History introduced.

History urged Arithmetic to stand up, holding her hand out to her" Come on, we're going to save her!"

Arithmetic nodded as she was being led by History towards Cure Literature. History leapt up high and tried pushing the wheel in the opposite direction as Arithmetic motioned Literature to run off. History was able to get the Delinquous to fall away from the other Cures and so, another fight between the Delinquous and the Cures ensued. After a while of trying to keep up with Cure History, Literature and Arithmetic realized the notion was near impossible considering how much energy they had left and how skilled History was. So for a second, they just stood back and let History take over.

"Finishing blow!" History shouted as she literally punched the wheel of the motorcycle and sent it flying into the road yonder over the parking lot.

"Oh my god..." Was all the two Cures could manage to say.

The Delinquous seemed defeated and so History took advantage of this and cleansed it.

"Pretty Cure, Ancient Revolution!" She called out, the atmosphere around them turning yellow. The Delinquous reverted back into a regular motorcycle and the Ultramarine Inner Scholar went back to it's owner.

Zephora looked over to Cure History with absolute revulsion and disappeared going unseen by the Pretty Cure.

Briskly, the girls walked up to Cure History and Literature asked hesitantly," So, does this mean you'll join us?"

"Maybe, but...what's going to happen if we, lose?" History questioned cautiously.

"It's a long story, but let's just say, there's a lot at risk." Literature stated as she noticed Cure History seemed to be a little drowsy.

"You can tell me now..." History said before she fell asleep on Arithmetic's shoulder and untransformed in the process.

"I don't think that'll do us any good..." Arithmetic giggled awkwardly, her shoulder feeling crushed under the weight of Chiyo.

Chiyo was lying on a bench, and woke up to a five-dollar bill being waved in her face.

"Is she up?" Renge asked, looking down at Chiyo.

"She's coming to." Kanari answered as she waved the bill faster in Chiyo's face.

"Would you stop that? I already you, I'm not rich..." Chiyo groaned groggily as she pushed the five-dollar bill away.

"But you clearly like money, considering you woke up." Kanari pointed out.

"This is just a five dollar bill too!" Chiyo spat with that groggy tone again.

"So, about that explanation..." Renge started off uneasily as she adverted her gaze to the side.

"Now, tell me everything now. So I can reach a decision." Chiyo declared with haste as she sat up straight..

"So, we have something we're trying to protect. and it isn't getting any easier with just the two of us and um.." Renge looked to see if there was anyone around. Surprisingly, people were sparse in this part of a mall. So, Renge was able to bring Renny and Topher out so the two could explain it better for her.

After the whole explanation, Chiyo looked at them in bewilderment. She wouldn't have ever expected this be so...crucial. Looking at the four of them who were looking back at her expectantly, Chiyo opened her mouth and sighed a little.

"As long as this doesn't interfere with school or work...I guess I can do it." Chiyo decided.

Renge squealed and Kanari just put her hand on Chiyo's shoulder with a questionable look on her face that seemed both excited and mischievous.

"I knew you'd come around, Chichi-chan..." Kanari grinned in a frighteningly manner.

"Don't call me that!" Chiyo shouted, sounding very flustered as she put her around her her chest protectively. Renge giggled off Kanari's strange disposition towards Chiyo awkwardly. She looked over to the girls, feeling very thankful that the team had turned into a trio. Perhaps this would look up from here on out, at least one could hope.


	9. It goes into the net Kanari!

Renge stood patiently by the front of the school on Sunday, rocking back and forth anxiously as she waited for Nao. Today was going to be their first date and of course, Renge was just in between being a hot mess and absolutely ready. She made sure she was as prepared as she possibly could be, making sure she had something to say at any given situation and of course, she made sure she was looking good. Dressed in a mint green sweater with a pastel blue floral sleeveless top and a white skirt, Renge knew she was looking as fashionable as she could today. She also made sure her outfits was accentuated with a few accessories here and there, with a turquoise butterfly claw pin in her hair and a few non-flashy rings around her fingers. She checked the time on her phone to see what time it was. Only three fifty three, and that was perfectly fine. They did plan to meet at four anyways. But, as the minutes dragged on, Renge felt herself worry that he had forgotten about the date or worse, stood her up.

Standing thinking about just how possible that really was, Renge sighed and stood there for a few moments, debating on whether she should've stayed longer or left.

"Hey," Renge heard a low, soft voice call out to her from her left. She turned around to see Nao walking up to her. Feeling heart skip beats and race at that uncomfortable rate, Renge waved towards him and tried her hardest not to appear as awkward.

"Hey!" Renge called out, louder than intending. She instantly clamped her mouth shut with her hands for a second, realizing how loud she was and caused to Nao smirk a little.

Renge laughed with him and reddened slightly when he was in front of her. Looking up at him for a moment and then looking down to her shoes, she let a forced giggle out.

"So, shall we go?" Renge asked as she looked up to Nao, secretly wanting to offer her hand so they could hold hands.

Nao nodded and the two walked to the mall. Since Renge wasn't too sure what Nao liked, aside from anime and video games, she decided she would keep it simple for today's date. Just a carefree Sunday afternoon, a busy area on a relaxing day. Renge hoped that with some luck, the two would be out long enough to watch the sunset, which wasn't that extreme of a wish. Since it was fall and the sun was setting by at least five-thirty. Something about the idea of watching the bright ocean blue sky advance into an calmer tone of blue mixed with some hints of orange as the sun left the sky seemed like such a wonderful scene to share with someone you liked.

Renge didn't realize she was spacing out, and once she did, the two were in the mall. Her eyes darted to Nao in a panic to see if he was becoming bored or uninterested. Thankfully, he seemed normal for now. Renge knew of course, she had to initiate the conversation.

"So, how was your weekend?" Renge inquired in the most cheerful tone possible.

"It was alright." Nao answered absently, his gaze falling towards a display of cereal boxes.

"Um, that's cool." Renge commented, trying to remain positive and upbeat," My weekend was hectic. Me and my brother were working on one of his science projects and we needed to fill the kitchen sink so we could see if certain materials floated or not. And sadly, while we were filling up the sink, neither of us were watching it so it over flowed and soaked the kitchen counter and carpet so...yeah, just goes to show you me and my brother can't be trusted with doing things in the kitchen unattended."

Nao laughed at her and commented," You're a bit of a ditz, you know that?"

"Hey that rhymed!" Renge exclaimed densely, not realizing what Nao had just called," Hey, wait, I'm not a ditz!"

Nao laughed at her even more as he watched her pout. The two then began to start laughing a bit more afterwards. Renge knew she sounded silly when she told stories like that, stories that made her sound like she was rambling. But she didn't care all that much. Why? Because, hey she was getting a reaction out of the boy who acted emotionless in art club and that was something, wasn't it?

The two ambled through the mall, engaging in some conversation, an amount that was comfortable for the both of them. The mall was a whole lot quieter than usual but not necessarily dead. There were a handful of people browsing around some stores, but Renge could locate a single person aside from her and Nao from their school. It felt almost, magical to not see anybody from school. As they were walking, Renge noticed Nao observing a mannequin with a small formal two-piece outfit on it.

"Why would a kid need a tuxedo?" Nao asked dimly in a curious voice as he stared at the gold trimming on the vest.

"Ring-bearers?" Renge answered as the two walked past the store, which didn't actually have a name, but did manage to possess a 'be back in fifteen minutes' sign. The two of them bought ice-cream, vanilla for Nao and peanut butter chocolate for Renge. As Renge was munching away at her ice cream, now able to eat the cone, she then wondered something.  
"Can you eat waffle cones with your braces?" Renge asked, before realizing Nao was eating his ice cream in a bowl.

"Nah, but I never really cared for the cones anyways.." Nao responded, sounding a little surprised that Renge asked him that.

Soon, Nao informed Renge that he needed to get home soon and so the two walked out of the mall and as Nao walked in the direction of his home, Renge asked,

"Where's my hug?"

"Why did I know you were going to ask that?" Nao asked with a chuckle as he went over and hugged her. Once they broke the hug and Nao walked home, Renge went to the bus stop and felt her face grow tired from smiling so much. She looked over to the school, taking note of how pretty it was when it was highlighted under the sky that was slowly turning into a sunset. Sadly, the sunset didn't show up quick enough for her and Nao to admire it together. Maybe, another time, since for once, Renge actually felt like a second date could've happened for them.

The next day, during Art club as the class was assembling as club just started, Renge saw Nao seating himself down next to her as usual. Since not many of their usual friends were here yet, Renge could help but state in a somewhat quiet voice,

"Yesterday was fun."

"I agree," Nao commented quietly,as he took his sketchbook out from his bag. Neither look at each other while they said that, but they both had a strong feeling that the other meant what they said. During that class, things were quiet but it didn't really concern Renge and Nao that much, for once they were actually really trying to get caught up on their project. As the class was nearing to an end though, Nao asked Renge casually while hoping he wouldn't draw excessive attention to himself in a low voice,

"Are you up for staying back after class some time this week with me?"

For a second, Renge almost successfully bit back a smile, but then she realized this time, _she_ was the one to be asked to hang out. Looking up to Nao and clinging on to this moment where it was acceptable to get a little lost into Nao's green eyes she responded,

" I'd like that very much."

The bell rang and as the rest of the students scrambled out, Nao said to her," Alright, cool. Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

Just as he was about to leave, Renge took hold of his arm quickly which grabbed his attention. Renge then stole a hug quickly before she said bye to him and left the classroom , giving him a wink as she walked out. Nao smiled to himself as Renge was out of sight and he laughed a little bit.

Just as Renge walked into her room feeling quite delighted and content with today's events, she found the usual trio plus Chiyo all in her room. Shockingly unfazed by all of this, Renge looked at her guests and wondered just what brought her fellow Pretty Cures in today. Kanari sat of Renge's bed as usual and Chiyo was leaning against her windowsill.

"Hey guys, what brings you here? Want anything to eat? I can bring some snacks," Renge offered," And I'll get you a seat, Chiyo."

"Oh, it's not necessary, I'll be fine.." Chiyo reassured as her cheeks tinted pink as she looked down to the floor.

"Alright, suit yourself, I'll bring you guys some snacks and water.." Renge declared as she strolled out from the room and downstairs to her kitchen.

"Boy, someone's in a good mood..." Kanari remarked once Renge was out of earshot. Once Renge arrived with a large bowl of rainbow-chocolate chip cookies on a tray with three glasses of juice, the group got to business.

"So Renny, why'd you call this meeting?" Renge asked as she took a cookie.

Taking a cookie after Renge, Renny looked down sheepishly," Well, though I thought it would be a good idea to give Chiyo here some more information regarding the Pretty Cure at this 'meeting', I wasn't the one to call this meeting."

Renge looked at him in confusion as she nibbled on her cookie," So then, who-?"

"I called it." Kanari stated bluntly after taking a sip of her juice.

"Why and, how'd did you even get Chiyo to come? We never got around to exchanging numbers the other day..." Renge pointed out.

"I didn't need her number..." Kanari declared wickedly as glanced over to Chiyo who was resting her hand on her fist, looking irritated upon hearing Kanari's response.

 _It was nearing that time before class change, when everyone would go to their club as soon as the bell rang. Kanari's math class was dismissed early due to her teacher having a doctor's appointment, so Kanari went off in search of Chiyo. Luckily, she had no trouble finding her. Outside, near the school's track was Chiyo in her gym clothes with a bunch of other girls who appeared to be her friends. It looked they were gossiping or something, having nothing to do since class would be over soon._

 _Kanari inched a little closer to the girls, and remained a comfortable distance of about ten or so feet away from them. Placing her cupped hands around her mouth Kanari yell-whispered out,_

 _"Chichi-chan!"_

 _Chiyo's sharp ears picked up the whisper and was able to detect where and who the whisper came from. Appearing slightly agitated for a second, Chiyo ignored Kanari and continued on her conversation with her friends._

 _"Is that girl calling one of us?" One of Chiyo's friends asked in concern as she noticed Kanari a few feet behind Chiyo._

 _"Probably not." Chiyo assured, not even turning around to look at Kanari._

 _"Chiyo Sakurami~!" Kanari yell-whispered._

 _"Um, I think she's calling for you Chi." The friend informed as she eyed Kanari in question._

 _"Michiru, I really don't care." Chiyo replied flatly as she urged Michiru to continue to conversation and gestured her to ignore Kanari too._

 _So, Michiru as told and the group's conversation resumed, leaving Kanari to be quite frustrated with Chiyo. Inflating her cheeks with impatience, Kanari shrieked out,_

 _"Chiyo Supercute Sakurami, I need to tell you something!"_

 _Chiyo turned beet-red upon hearing this as everyone from her gym class looked at her. Infuriated, Chiyo walked up to her Kanari and hissed,_

 _"Just what do you want?"_

 _"Don't you dare ever do that to me again." Chiyo stated imperatively as she closed her eyes, still humiliated from what happened a few hours ago._

 _"No promises, hehe." Kanari giggled deviously, causing Chiyo to glare daggers at her._

 _"Woah, chill. Just give me your number and I won't do it again." Kanari declared as she held her hands in front her body._

"So, why did you bring us here today?" Renge asked as she and Chiyo exchanged their numbers.

"We still need a thing to say, like a motto and maybe even a team name!" Kanari exclaimed.

"I did say when we find our third Cure and now..." Renge trailed off as she looked over to Chiyo," Alright, Kanari, have you thought of anything so far?"

"Well, I thought of a few..." Kanari said as she took a stack of papers out from her backpack.

"Wow, ok...this is..more than I expected.." Renge admitted sheepishly as she looked over all of the papers with about a dozen mottos written all over them.

"Putting the cool in school?" Chiyo read out incredulously from one of Kanari's pages," Where have you been getting your ideas from, PSAs from the the nineties?"

"Thought that one got scratched out.." Kanari confessed sheepishly as she snatched the page away from Chiyo.

"Making learning fun and getting the job of saving the day done?" Renge read out," I like it, but it's a bit of a mouthful.."

"You guys still need a team name." Topher pointed out.

"One thing at a time, alright?" Renge negotiated as she continued to look over the potential mottos written by Kanari," But come to think of it...there was something on our to-do list that needed to be done awhile ago.."

"Uh-oh." Kanari commented, her gaze shifting down to the page in her hands in peril.

"We never found you a club did we?" Renge debriefed as she crossed her arms while looking down at Kanari.

"Nope, and it's a little too late now!" Kanari declared as she tossed the pile of pages in her hands up in the air.

"Are you kidding me? There are a bunch of clubs still looking for members," Chiyo claimed as she gathered up all the pages Kanari threw in the air.

"Then we need to find you a club." Renge declared.

"Ugh, but I don't want to!" Kanari groaned as she pouted, crossing both her arms and her legs.

"Kanari, I really think you should, you've got all this free time and it'd be great if you donated some of that time to a club.." Renge responded, the irritation in her voice becoming noticeable.

"Have you even ever been in a club?" Chiyo questioned as she placed the pile of pages on Renge's computer desk.

"Sure I have! In first year, I was in sowing club and I showed up a grand total of four times the entire year!" Kanari proclaimed," They called me Kanayureiri for that though."

"Yurei, as in ghost..." Renge commented, sounding a little unimpressed.

"Grand total of four times..." Chiyo repeated sounding both a little shocked and disgusted.

"That's it. Tomorrow, we're finding you a club." Renge declared as she pointed to Kanari.

"We, and just who do you mean by we?" Chiyo inquired sounding as if she despised the thought of her being involved in this.

"Come to think of it...Chiyo, do you have a club?" Renge questioned curiously.

"Yeah, I'm in cooking club..." Chiyo answered, suddenly regretting saying that as she noticed Kanari's eyes beginning to glaze over her.

"So smoothie girl joined a club where she can make more food, I bet that means you're an excellent chef, right?" Kanari asked as her gaze was stuck onto Chiyo.

"Perhaps, I should join a club like cooking. Yeah, that'd be sweet, get it? And that way I could get to eat all of Chiyo's baked goods!" Kanari fantasized as Chiyo tried to distance herself from Kanari slowly.

"Please, make me baked goods Chiyo!" Kanari cried as she looked over to Chiyo with an intent, crazed look in her violet eyes.

"Ugh, no way!" Chiyo shouted, repulsed as she held her hand over herself in protection from Kanari.

"If you don't want her to join cooking club, then I'd suggest you help us tomorrow." Renge advised in a calm, almost threatening tone.

Chiyo drew out a very long sigh," Fine, but you better not join the cooking club." Chiyo glowered down to Kanari menacingly as she pointed a finger to Kanari.

"G-got it.." Kanari gasped out meekly as she adverted her eyes away from Chiyo.

The next day, Renge and Chiyo got them excused from their clubs and spent that time looking for a club for Kanari. The group assembled just outside of Renge and Kanari's homeroom. Renge was holding a list that was compiled of all the clubs that Kanari could possibly join. The list was long thankfully some with some luck, they might have been able to find Kanari a club by the end of the day.

"And top of the list is art..." Renge listed off, wincing and wishing she didn't just say that.

"Why don't you join art?" Chiyo asked uninterestedly with her eyes closed and her arms folded.

"I'll show you why." Kanari responded as she removed a clipboard with a sheet of paper attached to it and began to scribble something onto the page. After a few moments, Kanari showed Chiyo showed the picture.

"Just what the hell is that?!" Chiyo gawked as she stared at Kanari's illustration.

"It's you." Kanari replied tonelessly.

"Plus it's a little too late into the semester to join art now..." Renge added sheepishly," But, it's ok, art's not for everyone, but, what about band club?"

"I don't do instruments.." Kanari answered flatly as she awkwardly put a hand on the back of her neck.

"Broadcasting club?" Renge suggested.

"Ooh, that could work. Considering she's already loud." Chiyo teased.

"Wait, I think it says the club's full here..." Renge stated as she squinted at the page," Um...what about basketball?"

"Basketball?" Kanari repeated flatly with zero interest,"Renge, have you ever known me to even play sports?"

"Well, there's a first for everything, plus they're always looking for more members!" Renge pointed out.

"Gimme that list, let's see if I can find something worth trying." Kanari demanded as she grabbed the list from Renge as she stuck her tongue out to the bespectacled girl.

"Alright let's see, tea ceremony club is a no, baseball is a hell no, archery is another no, drama is unfortunately full, and flower arrangement sounds like the most boring thing on earth." Kanari disclosed.

Renge and Chiyo looked at each other for a couple of moments while trying to meet a collective decision.

"Basketball." The girls said in unison.

"What?! I already told you guys, I'm not doing it!" Kanari protested before they dragged her to the school gym.

"You can't make me join basketball club!"

"Why am I at basketball club." Kanari moaned in defeat as she found her in the school gym. Inside the gym was many girls from different grades wearing the same grey and purple basketball jersey, of course each of them sported a different number. The gym was quite large and it felt like an almost foreign, yet nostalgic place for Kanari, considering she hadn't been in the school gym for what felt like forever. Everything seemed about the same with the exception of the continuous sound of basketballs being dribbled pounding in her head.

Renge was talking to the team captain about their situation while Chiyo and Kanari stood awkwardly near the wall and beside the fire exit.

"I never realized there were so many girls in the basketball club." Chiyo exhaled.

"Same." Kanari commented as she watched the girls dribble the basketballs.

"Hi, Mizukage!" The team captain greeted joyfully as she jogged up to Kanari with Renge following behind," So, Kotori has told me about you not being able to join a club yet and how you were thinking about joining basketball club. And let me just say I think it's awesome that you want to join!"

"I, uh...yeah." Kanari responded awkwardly as she stared at the team captain. She was quite tall, taller than Chiyo and looked like a super friendly girl with such a warm smile on her face. Her long blonde hair that was tied up in a ponytail looked rather lime-yellow due to the gym's lighting and her giant blue eyes glimmered as she looked down to Kanari.

"My name's Tsubaki Kemuri and I'm captain of the team. So, today we can just let you test out the waters, see if you like it or not ok?" Tsubaki stated.

"Yeah, uh, sure, that works.." Kanari sputtered out.

"But for today, you'll need a jersey, alright?" Tsubaki declared," And of course, you'll get to keep it for longer if you do decide to join."

"Jersey?" Kanari repeated while cringing as she looked at the drab, unfashionable jersey that all the girl's were wearing.

A few minutes, after Tsubaki supplied Kanari with a jersey, Kanari appeared out from the change room, wearing the standard jersey that had the number twenty five printed onto it with her hair tied up and pinned up higher with a claw clip under it. Kanari cringed again upon looking at herself.

"Isn't she darling?" Chiyo crooned as Kanari shot her a threatening look.

"Now you can be a joth Kanari." Renge jeered.

"A what?" Kanari questioned.

"A goth jock."

"You're going to be a dead woman soon you know that?" Kanari spat before the three of them heard a voice scream 'Watch out!'.

Kanari ducked in a heartbeat and watched as a volleyball came flying at a break neck speed above them. The ball bounced powerfully against the wall and bounced away from the girls slowly.

"You girls ok?" Tsubaki asked as she ran over towards them," The jersey looks good on you, Mizukage."

Kanari smiled awkwardly as the girls nodded. Then, a girl who was wearing a volleyball uniform jogged up to them to apologize.

"I'm so sorry about that!" The dark-haired girl apologized as she came near to them.

 _"This girl nearly took my head off with a volleyball and I'm supposed to accept her apology?!"_ Kanari screamed in her mind. Tsubaki elbow-nudged her in a friendly manner to say something. Now appearing very alert, Kanari replied saying in a rather robotic tone,

"No worries, it's ok."

The girl ran off to retrieve the volleyball shortly after. Tsubaki chuckled as she watched the girl go after the ball in a clumsy manner.

"We wound up having to split the gym in half with them today because the volleyball team mis-scheduled a practice session. They only lucked out today because the guy's team is at an away game." Tsubaki explained.

"So, have you guys had you're first game yet?" Kanari asked.

Tsubaki shook her head," That's not until next week. We won our first game by default when the away team never showed up. So technically, our next game is our second one."

"Great," Kanari remarked sarcastically before Tsubaki handed her a basketball and unintentionally nearly winded the snow white-haired girl.

"Now, let's see what you got!" Tsubaki cheered as she urged Kanari to start dribbling the ball.

 _"I don't think I've done this since middle-school,"_ Kanari thought as she dribbled the ball very cautiously.

"Now let's see if you can run and dribble the ball," Tsubaki suggested as Kanari was about to hit the five-minute mark for dribbling in position. Nervously, Kanari jogged in a somewhat dainty manner and soon, she began to pick up speed. Then, Tsubaki came from behind her and began to block her.

"I'm open!" One girl with dark brown tied in a bun called out to Kanari.

"Number eighteen's open, what are you going to do?" Tsubaki questioned as she continued to block Kanari.

Knowing she likely wasn't going to be able to pass the ball to number eighteen, Kanari recklessly evaded Tsubaki with much avail and threw the ball to the basket with her eyes closed. The ball flew near the basket but bounced off the backboard and began to charge down at Kanari as if it was aiming for her. She hid behind Tsubaki to avoid to avoid collision with the ball. As the ball rolled away from them, Tsubaki chuckled awkwardly.

"That was rather bold of you.." She remarked as Kanari got up from behind her," But that evasion...was remarkable."

"Seriously?" Kanari asked in bewilderment.

"I don't recall ever seeing anything like it. I think you have potential." Tsubaki stated.

"Are you sure about that?" Kanari questioned, not really believing what she was hearing. She barely knew the rules of basketball, so just how did she have potential?

"Absolutely, you just need to work on a few things and you can be as good as the rest of us!" Tsubaki declared as she motioned the two of them to walk around the gym.

 _"Oh great, now I have to stay because she said all of that."_ Kanari thought as she walked with Tsubaki.

"You know what? I think we'll do a game right now." Tsubaki said as she gathered the rest of the girls from the basketball team around.

"Ok, everyone on this side of the gym is team A, the other side is team 1. Choose who you're going to guard and will start the game in a minute." Tsubaki instructed," Looks like we're on opposing teams."

Kanari looked down on the floor and realized she was on team 1 while Tsubaki was on team A. Kanari then looked around to see who she could guard that she'd at least be able to block with her petite stature. She found a girl with short red hair tied into little pigtails on the opposing side and decided that she was going to be the one she'd block. She made eye-contact with the girl and the red-head simply a shot her a threateningly look.

Soon, their little game commenced and Tsubaki was the first to get it. She dribbled with the ball as she ran in search of a teammate. She heard a flood of cries shouting 'I'm open!" and so, she passed the ball to the closest teammate she could find.

But then, a member of the opposing team got the ball while it was in mid-air. The girl who caught it, number twenty-two, dribbled the ball and searched for somebody who she could pass it to.

Kanari screamed," I'm open!" and so twenty-two passed it to her. The ball nearly winded Kanari again, but she at least caught it. Just as she began to dribble the ball, she noticed the red-head was she guarding was coming after her.

Kanari not realizing how near the girl was, started to run with the ball, causing Tsubaki to shout," Travel!"

"Oops..."

They then checked the ball as they all walked back to their original positions.

The game restarted and the girls, along with Renny and Topher were watching Kanari play with what she to be all her might.

"I really thought she was going to quit ten minutes in," Chiyo remarked as she watched Kanari try to block the red-head.

Renge nodded in agreement as they continued to watch the game. From inside of Renge's bag, Renny and Topher watched Kanari too.

"She's better than I thought." Renny stated. Topher said nothing and continued to watch Kanari play, taking note of how clumsy she became whenever she got in contact with the ball.

For the next few days, Kanari proved her fellow Cures wrong by staying with the basketball club, though it was mainly because she felt pressured to by Tsubaki to stay. The practices were brutal and at least once a practice, Kanari found herself running away from a basketball flying towards her. But, she didn't let that, along with her sore arms and legs affect her decision of staying. Yet, every time practice came, she felt herself dreading the idea of walking into the stupid gym, putting on an even stupider jersey just to throw around some ball she may only touch for about forty seconds if they decided to play a game that practice. But, Tsubaki was cheering her on and she continued to cheer her on after each and every practice, so she couldn't just leave now, as much as she wanted to.

Today, just before club time began, Kanari realized this practice would be the last one before the first game. She could already feel her insides contort from within her just thinking about the first game. She had no idea how fast the days since she join basketball club flew and she just thought they had just dragging on because of the club. Maybe she could quit today? Before she got destroyed on the court tomorrow would be best, at least that's what she thought. Yeah, the girls on the team were pretty nice to her, and weren't actually scary, but she wasn't able to say that for the opposing team. The thought of them being gigantic, unforgiving, burly girls was enough to make Kanari quit as soon as possible. But, what would Tsubaki say about her then?

The thought of Tsubaki not being able to forgive her was even more frightening than the burly girls from the opposing team for Kanari.

Walking up to the gym, Kanari thought aloud," Maybe I can just stay until after the first game. Yeah, that could work. Besides, I'm not much of an asset to them, so it won't hurt the team, I guess."

When she got into the gym, she found that everyone had been put in pairs of twos to play one-on-one. Everyone appeared to have a partner except one girl standing in the corner dribbling a ball. It was the girl from the other day with the dark brown hair who tried to help Kanari by offering to pass to her.

"You need a partner?" Kanari asked as she walked up to her.

"Yeah," The girl answered as she began to dribble the ball near to the basket.

"Oh no you don't," Kanari said as she darted up towards the girl. Carelessly, the girl attempted to shoot from where she was standing and Kanari blocked her with little effort. Kanari watched as the ball bounced up and down a few times before it rolled away. The girl was panting and holding her hands on her knees as she attempted to catch her breath.

"You're getting better Mizukage," The girl remarked between gasps for air.

"Thanks eighteen." Kanari replied thoughtlessly as she watched the ball continue to bounce away further from there.

"My name's Sachi." The girl introduced as she extended a sweaty hand out to Kanari.

Delicately, Kanari shook her hand," You can call me Kanari. I still can't believe we have our first game tomorrow."

"Yeah, our first one too. This year our 'first' team is going to be Ichijo Academy." Sachi responded.

"Are they hard?"

"Yeah, the toughest team we faced last year."

"Are they brutes?"

"No, not brutes." Sachi answered casually," But they don't need brute strength since their team has been stacked with all-stars for years now. They're all really talented, a little intimidating and snarky but nonetheless, their team is guaranteed to be composed of some of the most talented basketball players in the district."

"That good huh?" Kanari questioned as Sachi nodded vigorously in response.

"But, we've come a long way. So this year, we actually stand a chance. And maybe, we may even win." Sachi mused, sounding a little shaky as she said that last sentence.

"Maybe," Kanari mused with her as they watched the rest of the team practice. Everyone was so good, they really were and even though Kanari improved a bit over the last couple of days, she still couldn't compare to the other girls. She only had so many practices during the week before tomorrow's game, so she couldn't have even hope to improve herself a little more before tomorrow.

When practice was finally over, Tsubaki told the girls to get lots of rest in preparation for tomorrow's big game. Kanari walked home from club, hoping to walk with Renge but being unable to find her, she went off by herself. Renge usually took the bus home, which was totally reasonable in Kanari's eyes. But it was days like this where an hour long walk to distract her mind away from more pressing issues were all she could want. During the walk Kanari got to watch the sun slowly fade as the sky became darker and less bright with each passing minute. It was days like this where Kanari could just watch the sky for an hour so she could witness the shift from afternoon to early evening, but she the only place she would allow herself to perform such a task was when she was at home in her room, staring out through her window. Not trying to walk home from school.

After an hour, when Kanari got home from her tiring walk, she collapsed onto her bed. Her legs feeling weak from the walk and today's practice combined. Now that she was home, she could go back to thinking about tomorrow's game.

"It sucks being the weakest link." Kanari scoffed as she stared up at her ceiling,"If I was better than at least one person, I wouldn't have to worry that I might be the one to let the team down if we lose tomorrow."

Sitting upright, she sat in silence until she spotted a pale green sheet of paper she didn't notice before on her side-table. So, with great caution, she picked it up and read it.

"Hey, if you want some more practice, then come meet me at the school's gymnasium around eleven tonight. Signed, T." Kanari read aloud," T as in...Tsubaki?"

Kanari reddened a little at the thought, but...how she would know where Kanari lived was beyond her if Tsubaki was indeed the writer of this message. But whoever they were, they were likely going to be waiting for her at the gym tonight and it definitely wouldn't be fair to ditch out on them. Kanari decided, though the invite was slightly suspicious, she'd go, because if this person was considerate to offer their time to help her, she may as well have done her part to come.

Leaving her house wasn't an issue since she had been able to do so without even using the front door. Basically, she snuck out a lot. But not for any reason typically, and since she rarely did so, she had yet to be caught. Throwing down the rope ladder she acquired a few years ago, she crept down as quietly as she could and went to the school, via bike this time. Kanari figured it'd probably faster that way considering she left her bus pass downstairs. Plus it would likely be a good warm-up.

When Kanari got to the school, she then wondered how she was going to get in. She tried the front door and as suspected, it was locked. Feeling a little agitated she stood their with her arms crossed, trying to think of what other entrance the inviter could've gone through.

She walked over to the side of the school and tried the entrance that led to the gym. To her surprise, it actually did open, and so she tip-toed in with as much stealth as she could muster up.

Walking into the gym, she noticed only half of the lights were turned and standing in the center of the gym, aiming to shoot for the basket, was Topher in human form.

"Well, aren't we notorious for signing with a single initial? Not to mention making come to school this late at night." Kanari smirked as Topher spun around to see her.

"It's the only initial I've got," He snickered," And you did say you needed the practice."

"Yeah, you're right. And since I'm here now..." Kanari darted over to Topher in an attempt to steal the ball from him, who quickly evaded her. Spinning away from her, Topher leapt up and shot the ball into the net.

As the two watched the ball bounce up and down for a few moments and roll away, Kanari stood there, astonished by what just happened," You're pretty good man."

"Thanks." Topher responded as he went to go retrieve the basketball. Once Topher got the ball and walked up to Kanari, he decided now was the time to inform her about her weak points,"You travel quite a bit. And you tend to pass to the teammates that you're being blocked from."

"Eheheh, you're making some good points." Kanari replied sheepishly," So, what're we going to do about that?"

"I'll show you." Topher concluded as he began to dribble the ball again. For the next hour, Topher showed Kanari some ways to keep herself from traveling and a few pointers regarding who to pass to when she was blocked with, any size of person really. Topher covered all heights on when it would be ok to pass to a teammate you were being blocked from.

'Wanna try shooting a basket?" Topher asked after he went through all the things Kanari needed to improve on.

"Um...not really." Kanari answered nervously as she threw the basketball to him.

"Why not?" He asked," You've improved a lot within this last hour, I think that's worth a celebratory shoot."

"I'm pretty sure the shoot only counts as celebratory when it gets in the net..." Kanari responded sheepishly with an awkward giggle.

"You can't shoot?" He questioned curiously.

"Just watch." Kanari responded as she motioned him to pass her the ball. Once the ball got in her hands, she took a deep breath and shot it up towards the basket. As she expected, the ball didn't even come close to coming in and simply rolled away from them after it landed on the ground.

Instead of laughing at her like she expected, Topher only snickered once and retrieved the ball for her. Giving the ball back to Kanari, Topher informed her," Your technique's a little...off."

"A little or a lot?" Kanari questioned flatly.

"Here, let me show you.." Topher offered as he stood next to Kanari," You just have to put your hand over here and your other one under here and bend down a bit."

Kanari took the ball from him and did as he instructed. Squinting as she focused on the basket, Kanari shot the ball and miraculously it went it in.

"Topher did you see that?! I, I did it! It went it in! I...I shot a basket...and I got it in!" Kanari exclaimed.

Topher applauded her," See? All you needed was to fix your technique."

The two high-fived in celebration of Kanari's first basket.

Before Kanari knew, the next day had slipped through her fingers and she found herself sitting on the bench with her other teammates waiting for the game to start. The away team had just came in and Sachi was right, they were intimidating. It appeared the rest of the girls shared the same opinion as Sachi did towards the Ichijo team because they were all staring at the team with collective apprehensive looks in their eyes.

"Excited girls?" Tsubaki asked, an undertone of sarcasm detectable in her voice," Don't worry, this is what we've been practicing so hard for. After this, it's gets a whole lot easier from here."

"Go team!" Renge cheered from the bleachers with Chiyo sat beside her. She was surprised she managed to convince Chiyo to come with her to watch Kanari's game. Chiyo seemed as stoic as ever and very out of place here at the basketball game, watching the opposing team with minimal interest.

"I hope Seinori wins!" Renge beamed naively as she flashed a thumbs-up to Kanari. Chiyo didn't seem to believe they had a shot of winning, but she chose not to voice her opinion.

Tsubaki decided who was going to on first and she chose Kanari as one of the players to go on now. Kanari winced, wondering if Tsubaki chose her to go on first as some method of torment for thinking about quitting, even though she didn't say she wanted to quit.

She was guarding the shortest girl on the opposing team, who towered over her standing around five foot six. She seemed unimpressed that she had to be guarded by a shrimp like Kanari, but she didn't complain.

Once the game began, the opposing team got the ball first and the girl from the other side with the ball passed it to one of her teammates. The teammate caught it but realizing she was getting cornered by the girl guarding her, she tried passing to her teammate behind her.

The teammate she passed the ball didn't catch the ball and it was stolen by Tsubaki. Dribbling the ball at break-neck pace to the opposing team's basket, she searched desperately for a teammate to pass to. Originally intending to pass to the short red-haired girl, she realized she wasn't going to be able to with the girl being blocked from the girl guarding her. So, what she did instead was pretend that she was going to pass to the red-head, but fooled everyone and pass to Kanari behind her. Even Kanari was caught off-guard when she found the ball between her hands. But of course, she knew she had to think fast. So, she tried dribbling quickly over to the basket with much avail for the most part. But then, she found her crashing down. She ran on one foot in an awkward position and she tripped, falling with her hand laying flat against the ground.

"Kanari!' Renge cried out.

The referee called a time-out and team gathered around to take a look at Kanari. Because of how she landed, her hand felt like it was in extreme pain, not to mention she could feel her knees burning from getting skinned against the gym floor. Her hand felt like it was sprained and it was hurting so much. Kanari kept blinking back tears as the girls led her to the bench.

"Tsubaki...I'm so sorry." Kanari apologized as she clenched her wrist in pain as Tsubaki took out an ice pack from the team's safety kit.

"Don't apologize." Tsubaki responded neutrally, still searching for the ice pack.

"But I-I...I let you down! I'm making you guys worry and we're one less player now, and it's all my fault!" Kanari cried.

"Kanari," Tsubaki said sternly as she placed her hands on Kanari's shoulders," You didn't let me down and none of this is your fault alright? Accidents happen, and that's ok."

"I...yeah, I guess you're right." Kanari sighed as she tried to wrap the ice pack around arm,"...Well, I guess that means you're just going to have to give those Ichijo girls hell for the both of us!"

"Yeah, I guess so." Tsubaki snickered as she returned to the court.

Jika stood on a little platform behind the scoreboard spectating the game. What that platform was doing there was beyond her.

Looking below from where she was standing, specifically at Sachi, she was able to tell that needed to look no further for an Inner Scholar to use. Everyone around her seemed very unaware of how sad Sachi appeared which made this capture even better. To add some dramatic flair to her heist after she plucked out Sachi's Inner Scholar, Jika pressed her hand against the scoreboard, causing the scoreboard to malfunction.

"Sachi, are you ok?" Kanari asked in low voice as she shook the unconscious girl violently.

"Guys the scoreboard!" One girl from the opposing team shouted.

"The lights!" Renge cried as the lights began to flicker on and off. The referee and teachers led everyone out from the gym and before Renge was pulled out from the gym with crowd, she felt herself get grabbed and shoved away into a small little corner between the side of the bleachers and the wall.

Chiyo stood there holding out her pen as if she was silently prompting Renge to do so.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" The girls shouted out in unison, as a swarm of red and yellow lights appeared to envelope them.

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature introduced.

"The subject of generations past with tales that are sure to last, Cure History!" Cure History introduced.

Kanari stood with her back against the bleachers, unsure of just how she was supposed to transform when a outrageously large water bottle-esque Delinquous was cornering her.

"Take her hostage, what are you waiting for?" Jika jested.

"Not so fast!" Literature shouted from the top of the bleachers.

Kanari looked up and saw her two fellow Cures standing at the top of the bleachers.

Literature questioned,"Crashing a basketball game filled with girls who were working so hard for this game while trying to steal the Inner Scholar of a completely innocent girl? In my books, that is just..."

"...Absolutely unforgivable!" Literature and History said together.

"Oh great, don't tell me History gets hyped up with those cheesy lectures too." Kanari deadpanned.

"We're gonna put an end to you!" Literature threatened.

"Oh really? And what makes you so sure of that?" Jika scoffed.

"Making learning fun, together as one, we are...Academia Pretty Cure!" Literature and History announced.

"So that's what are motto going to be?" Kanari asked as her face lifted into a half-grin while she transformed.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic introduced.

The lights were still flickering and what made things worse for the Cures was trying to land an attack onto the Delinquous who just spilled most, if not all, of it's contents on the floor. It grinned deviously, knowing the Cures would inevitably slip as they tried to run towards it.

History kept slowing down every time she felt like she was about to fall and Arithmetic just tried to use this as an advantage, slipping down towards towards the Delinquous at full speed hoping that it would tumble down.

It would've worked, if the Delinquous didn't notice her so quickly and nearly squish her with it's foot. Thankfully though, Arithmetic managed to evade the attack, as the Delinquous was too slow in trying to step on the blue Cure.

"You'll have to do a little more than slippery floors if you want to knock us down!" Literature cried as she leapt from the top of the basketball net and brought her hands in front of herself.

"Pretty Cure, Poetic hyper jurisdiction!" Literature shouted as a flock of giant writing quills pinned the Delinquous to the wall.

"Now this is where I play a hand in this battle." Jika declared as she snapped her fingers, causing the lights to flicker off.

"It's pitch-black, I can't see a thing!" Arithmetic shouted.

"Turn the lights back on!" Literature demanded.

"Not a chance!" Jika sneered.

Cure History remained quiet, trying to make herself undetectable as she hid in that spot where her and Renge transformed in. She tried to think of some way to bring the light back or at least locate the Delinquous without the creature finding her first. Her new powers were beginning to feel both very limitless and limited, as it felt like she could do anything but the question was, what could she actually do?

She shut her eyes and set herself to focus and tried to ignore the background noise that was her fellow Cures ambling around the unlit gym and screaming when attacked.

Impulsively, she opened them again and shouted out,"Pretty Cure, Archaic Blaze!"

She felt some sort of rod materialize in her hands and the moment she felt it, she gripped onto it as tight as she could. The tiny plain rod looked rather antique and it carried a little flame on top of it that would be able to guide her to her fellow Cures and hopefully the Delinquous.

History found the other Cures one by one and listened carefully to find the Delinquous who appeared to be in hiding. Thankfully, the light on her rod was dim enough for the girls not to be seen from the other side of the gym and yet bright enough to illuminate at least a little bit of the path in front of them.

Suddenly, the Delinquous roared and startled Cure History, would wounded up tossing her rod into the air and setting the bleachers aflame.

"Oops..." History said sheepishly as she watched the rest of the bleachers burn.

"Well, at least they're brightening the place up..." Literature pointed out.

"Yeah but how?" Arithmetic questioned.

The girls were able to see the Delinquous now and attacked relentlessly. History, apparently being the strongest out of the three of them, fought harder than her fellow Cures in hopes all her efforts would be enough to defeat this Delinquous.

"Why did you take Sachi's Inner Scholar?!" Arithmetic spat.

"Why? Well, because I could. It was already being tainted by just residing in that toxic girl's body." Jika explained casually.

"Toxic, what are you talking about?" Arithmetic shouted as she blasted the Delinquous to the other side of the room with Cure Literature.

"I'm not sure, maybe she was so toxic because she was weak, and afraid. Terrified of those girls and too powerless to do anything about what she felt." Jika theorized.

Arithmetic hated to admit it, but Jika's theory did make sense," So what if she was afraid? Weren't we all? Their the best in the league and they creamed the team last year, not to mention they're ridiculously intimidating, could you blame them? They don't have to be fearless to stand up and at least try."

"Oh really? Then how are they going succeed when they can't push a little bit of fear away?" Jika asked as she watched the Delinquous slam Arithmetic into the fire exit doors.

"They can motivate themselves with their fear! Because their fear is born from the idea of not reaching something they worked so damn hard for!" Arithmetic screamed as she sent a Geometric Frenzy towards the Delinquous head on.

The Delinquous fell backwards and to keep it down, History threw it to the side of the gym all by herself. The Delinquous laid there in defeat and Arithmetic looked down at it, taking a giant breath.

"Pretty Cure, Problem-solving Paradox!" She cried out as the atmosphere turn blue in mid-sentence. The Delinquous was purified and Sachi's maroon coloured Inner Scholar went back into Sachi.

"Zephora was right..." Jika realized in a quiet tone as she vanished.

After Arithmetic finished turning the charcoaled remaining of what used to be the bleachers back into the bleachers with Geometric frenzy, the girls found that some of the players from Kanari's team came back to gather some of their belongings. As they walked in one by one, the girls were surprised to find the gym looking as good as new, as if nothing ever happened. Sachi walked in, just as surprised as all the other girls with the condition of the gym. Just as they watched the girls walk in, Kanari took notice of how the pain from her wrist reutrned, but at least now it wasn't as painful as before.

Kanari dashed up to Sachi as she looked at the gym in astonishment," Hey Sachi,come back for your stuff?"

"Yeah I uh...how-? The gym looks, normal..like, how we...left it..?" Sachi wondered curiously.

"Yeah, it does." Kanari commented, trying to sound completely naive about the subject,"Um, don't mind my asking but...you didn't look alright during the game. Was there something bothering you?"

Sachi looked surprised that Kanari took notice of her distress from earlier," Yeah it's just...I was really nervous about today and I guess my nerves got the best of me. It got so bad that I almost didn't want to play, so I asked Tsubaki if I could sit out the first half." Sachi explained dismally.

"I don't how I got so scared, so anxious. It makes me feel like such a loser..." Sachi added as she looked down.

"No, don't call yourself that." Kanari commanded," Because even if we don't win, we aren't losers, wanna know why?"

Sachi shook her head, waiting for Kanari to tell her why.

"Because winners never quit. And this team doesn't either, so I guess that makes us winners in our own right, right?" Sachi nodded vigorously in agreement.

"So, how about we give it all we got?" Kanari suggested.

"Oh! Um, since the lights were flickering off earlier, the teachers decided to reschedule and postpone the game, hehe..." Sachi told her sheepishly.

"Oh." Kanari responded simply as she double-blinked in surprise," Well then, we'll just have to give it all we got the next game!"  
"Yeah!" Sachi cheered in agreement.


	10. Ok, let's go to the aquarium

Drawing in her sketchbook as quietly as possible, Renge sat in the art room after club time beside Nao. The two of them were working on writing reflection pieces to summarize the art projects they just did. The project was basically choose an emotion, create a two-dimensional piece using only shapes and colours, and write an explanation on how your piece was symbolizing the emotion you chose. Renge was in truth finished for the most part but was up for adding a few more points here and there to her reflection as long as it meant she could spend a little more time alongside Nao.

Nao was being peculiarly quiet, but Renge didn't seem to mind all that much as it seemed the reason for him being so quiet was due to him trying figure out what else to write for his explanation. The explanation needed to be full page and Nao was only half-way through his explanation. Renge looked over to his piece and narrowed her eyes slightly. He did pick a rather strange emotion, actually _emotions_ for his piece. Written on top of the page was the term 'mixed emotions' and it seemed like even Nao was regretting choosing such a strange emotion. He tapped his pen against the desk tirelessly as he looked at his piece in irritation. Renge stop doodling for a moment and looked over to Nao, waiting for him to finally ask her for help. Not to say she was that knowledgeable on writing explanations for these reflections, but at this point, it seemed like any help would've been much appreciated from him.

Instead of asking for help, Nao sighed and questioned,"Why didn't I choose an easy emotion like you?"

Renge seemed a little annoyed with his rhetorical question,"Lovesick-to-heartbreak is not easy. But I will say, it's not as challenging and hard to write about as yours."

"I'm not sure if there's anything left to say about mine anyways.." Nao remarked, sounding ready to admit defeat as Renge moved her chair closer to him.

They both stared at his piece, looking rather puzzled as they examined it, wondering how else Nao was supposed to explain why this represented mixed emotions.

Renge tilted her head a little and pointed out," You know, it kinda looks like a pizza."

"A white pizza, with one slice that has blue topping." Nao commented, tilting his head as he looked at the piece. He picked up his pencil and tried to see just what he could write for his explanation with that barely useful comment.

"Sometimes, I get mixed emotions over pizza." Renge stated casually as she looked over Nao, hoping to be of some help to him.

"You would." He commented in a deadpan tone, eyes still on his strange piece.

"Yeah I mean, it _is_ pizza." Renge pointed out, realizing she was beginning to sound like a seven year old. Oh well, may as well roll with this was what she thought as she tried to think of more reasons to help Nao's reflection.

"I mean, when I order it. I'm feeling super excited, like food has become the greatest thing ever. And then, I'm in absolute agony waiting for the pizza to come right? But, just before I reach the verge of tears after like, a half hour, the pizza guy shows up and I'm rejoicing. And then, when he leaves and I get to be all alone with pizza, I open it and bask in it's glory in complete adoration. But then, I am a crossroads because the pizza is so beautiful! Do I eat and satisfy my craving, or...do I just stare at it for longer? I'm absolutely torn! All because of a box of pizza!"

Nao looked at her, eyes narrowed for most of her odd story and then broke into laughter," You just have to take a picture of the pizza and you'd be fine!" Renge shrugged as Nao continued to laugh.

"At least I could make you smile." Renge cheered quietly.

"I don't think that will get me any marks if I write that though." Nao sighed as he tried to think of some more things to write," But what if I just..."

Nao ripped out a blank page from his sketchbook and began to write something onto the page while looking at his reflection. When he was finished writing, he let Renge look at it. All he did was rewrite his explanation much bigger than his original, leaving his explanation to be technically full-length.

"Well it certainly is full length now." Renge responded as if she had nothing better to say.

"Did he say what size our writing had to be?" Nao then asked as he looked down at the two copies of his reflection.

"I think that was a give-in..." Renge replied as she joined Nao in looking over the reflections.

"Give-in or didn't matter?" Nao questioned as he swiftly stapled the reflection with the bigger writing to the piece. He then place it on top of the pile with the rest of the projects to be graded, pushing up his glasses in a dignified manner. Renge noticed a little slip of paper by the by the pile. She picked it up and read it.

"Any project handed in after three-thirty will be deducted half-marks." Renge read quietly. She then looked over to Nao who was gathering his things.

"Maybe that's why he gave up on it..." Renge muttered with a shrug. Just before Nao left, Renge darted up to him, she had been meaning to ask him something for a few days now.

"Do you want to hang out some time this week?" She asked, finally plucking up enough courage to ask this. To think, it would've been easier to ask such simple things now that they were dating.

"Hang out as in this kinda hang out? Or..." Nao trailed off, hoping for Renge to finish.

"L-like a date?" Renge proposed, looking directly into Nao's eyes, seeming both uncertain and yet, unwavering.

"When and where?" Nao asked, motioning her to walk along with him.

"Um, how does this weekend sound?" Renge offered as the two of them walked out from the art room.

"This weekend is fine, so what would you like to do?" Nao asked as they continued to walk.

"Wanna come over to my place?" Renge asked, sounding a little hesitant but in all honestly, she was hoping for this date to be just a 'Netflix and chill' kinda date that would later turn into a 'let's get to know each other better session'.

Nao seemed a little reluctant about the idea of going to Renge's house, or maybe just shy hopefully. Renge then tried to think of some other options.

"Or-! We could see a movie if there's anything playing, come to think of it, that new aquarium been opened for like a month now.." Renge rambled, still trying to think of more options.

"The aquarium doesn't sound too bad." Nao responded stoically. The aquarium Renge mentioned was the Umiyume Aquarium that had been quite popular over the last couple of weeks as it was the first aquarium to be built in town.

"Ok, let's go to the aquarium." Renge finalized," Meet me at ...twelve-thirty on Saturday?"

"Alright." Nao responded as he left Renge with a single wave. Renge was hoping for a little more than that and thankfully, since no one was around, she dashed up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around looking at her questioningly before she hugged him.

"See you later~!" She said sounding a little flirtatious as Nao turned red.

The halls of the school were very empty, which was to be expected as it was past the usual time for students to be lingering around, even for hanging after-school. It felt strange walking around a usually bustling place that was now empty but at the same time, it was rather relaxing to Renge. As Renge left the school and headed to the bus stop, she began to daydream about their date. Come to think, this may've been Renge's first second date with somebody. Her cheeks flushed at the thought, this was literally the farthest she had ever been in a relationship. But before she could even think about dwelling more on the project, she ran into a certain someone at the bus stop.

"Kemuri!" Renge greeted as she ran up to the bespectacled tall girl who was sitting on the bench beside the bus stop. Even while sitting she still seemed pretty tall.

"Hey Kotori, how've you been?" Tsubaki greeted in a friendly manner as she motioned Renge to sit down.

"I've been fine, by the way, you can me Renge." Renge allowed.

The bus came shortly after and the two hopped on.

"So, do you always wear glasses outside of basketball?" Renge asked casually, hoping her question didn't sound too weird.

"Yeah, I'm a little far-sighted so outside of basketball, I pretty much wear them most of the time." Tsubaki replied," Oh, this is my stop! I'll see you around ok Renge?"

"Later Tsubaki!" Renge called out, quickly clamping her mouth shut once she realized how loudly she said that. Tsubaki giggled to herself as she saw Renge hold her mouth shut while looking very flustered.

Once Renge got off the bus and entered her home after exiting her second bus, she skipped up to her bedroom and decided she was going to look up directions on how to get to the aquarium and maybe just find out a little bit more about it.

But, once she entered her bedroom, she encountered the usual group all assembled sitting in their usual spots and staring at Renge as if she was very late. Renge seemed a little miffed by all this, but decided she should've seen this coming. She walked over to her computer chair nonchalantly and sat herself down, waiting for somebody to something, anything at this point really.

"What took you so long?" Kanari questioned as she pointed to Renge's Ojamajo Doremi clock,"We can't be here all afternoon!"

"Well, why are you all here in the first place anyways?" Renge inquired, unwillingly letting her irritation overcome her and creep up into her voice.

"Renny said that we can find out who the next Pretty Cure may be." Chiyo replied neutrally, seated in a yellow folding chair that Renge originally kept in her closet.

"Next Pretty Cure? As in, there's one more?" Renge asked with false ignorance.

"No playing dumb." Topher ordered," We've all kinda figured by this point, there's gotta be one final Pretty Cure...the Pretty Cure of Science.."

"So...how are we going to find out who she is?" Renge questioned as she crossed her legs on the computer chair.

The orange bird in question waved a wing over to Chiyo," Her pen will tell us."

"And only her pen can?" Renge asked, sounding rather suspicious as she watched Chiyo twirl her pen around carelessly in her hand.

Renny nodded and replied," Like how you're pen can tell fortunes, hers can as well when questioned but...the answers from Chiyo's pen are more likely to be more vague."

"I didn't think you could get any more vague than my pen.." Renge said flatly as Topher handed Chiyo a clip board with a blank sheet attached to it.

"What? Chiyo's pen can tell the future too? Then, what can my pen do?" Kanari questioned in jealousy as she hunched down to Topher.

"I dunno, maybe solve a math problem..." Topher responded, sounding both uninterested and annoyed.

"I'm gonna need a better answer than that..." Kanari declared in a sinister tone as she looked Topher with a deathly glare.

Topher only seemed a little scared by Kanari's glowering," We'll find out in due time, I suppose..."

"Would you two be quiet? I'm about to ask the pen who the next Pretty Cure is..." Chiyo snapped, forcing the two into silence.

Chiyo took a deep breath and gingerly held the pen in her small hands.

"Whenever you're ready." Renny prompted as Chiyo took a giant gulp, now clenching then pen. With a final sigh, Chiyo asked in clear, loud voice,

"Oh Fountain Pen of Knowledge and History, please guide us and tell us who our final Pretty Cure is."

The pen began writing on it's own with Chiyo holding it, appearing very uncomfortable with the pen moving for her. Once the pen was finished writing it's response, the girls and the birds huddled around to see just what the pen had to say.

"Already have your paths crossed, on a playing field of nets and balls." Kanari read, holding back a giggle as she read that last part.

Chiyo looked at her with her eyes narrowed as she tried to decipher this odd message. Renge, with her eyes still fixated on the page, came to a conclusion.

"So we've already met them but then, who is it that we...?" Chiyo wondered, looking to Kanari who was still laughing to herself at the message," Would you stop already?"

Chiyo then unforgivingly elbowed Kanari in the stomach, impelling Kanari to try and think who this girl could've been.

"Have a sense of humor Chi!" Kanari said between a few more giggles," Obviously, we all know this girl is but the question is... _who_ is it?"

The girls sat there in deep thought for quite a while, and soon they decided that they would try to figure this out later. At this point, it appeared Renge would've much rather have done this later as she had prior arrangements she desparately needed to attend to.

"Well, I guess it's ok that we don't know who she may but hey, at least we know there is a fourth Pretty Cure!" Renge beamed," Now, I've got some things to do, so if you guys could..."

"...Spend the rest of the night helping you?" Kanari teased as she stuck out her tongue. Renge frowned upon hearing this.

"I'm kidding, relax." Kanari assured," Alright Chichi-chan, it seems we're no longer wanted here. Come, let's go and raise hell at your place."

"For the last time, quit calling me that!" Chiyo grimaced as the two of them walked out, but not without at least saying bye to their hostess.

Once they were out of earshot, Renge sighed rather loudly and closed her bedroom door in an instant. She then turned her computer on and leaned against the wall next to the computer as she waited for it to load.

"You seemed a little..eager for them to leave today.." Renny pointed out, sounding a little suspicious of Renge,"Any reason as to why?"

"I've got a date on Saturday and I just wanted to see how to get to the place we're going to..." Renge answered as she searched up the aquarium.

"You haven't told us much about your boyfriend.." Topher pointed out," Most of my info about him is from Arithmetic..."

"Do you guys really want to know?" Renge asked with a minor scoff. The two nodded and before Renge could tell them, Hikaru shouted for Renge.

"Renge, supper's ready!" Hikaru shouted.

"Already? Well, I don't want to leave to it sit and get cold!" Renge declared as she dashed out of her room and down the stairs. Renny and Topher sat there, appearing a little incredulous as to what just transpired. But they figured they'd find out about Renge's mystery man in due time.

"You don't think it's a problem that she has a boyfriend,do you?" Topher then inquired out of nowhere.

"No, these things kinda just happened and Renge said she wouldn't let it interfere with her Pretty Cure duties. Why, do _you_ have a problem with it?" Renny asked.

"Just thought _you_ would." Topher explained briefly.

The next few days of the week passed by rather quickly, much to Renge's delight and soon she found herself standing patiently on the sidewalk near to the aquarium. The sharp breeze of November chilled Renge as it passed through her maroon pea-coat, leaving her coated with goose bumps. Today was supposed to get warmer by afternoon according to the weather on her phone but after feeling that kinda wind today, she was beginning to think otherwise. At least it wasn't so cold that she was left with her teeth chattering, she hated when that happened. This climate, if the wind would just go away, was tolerable. But then, Renge had a nagging feeling it wouldn't be as tolerable if she stayed outside any longer. At least she was able to find the aquarium with little difficulty, considering how confusing getting the directions for this place were. Well, it wasn't like they sounded confusing initially, until her mom tried looking over them and got overwhelmed.

Renge checked the time on her phone quickly, wanting to burrow her hands back into her pockets. Only twelve twenty two, no worries. Thanks to the indecent bus schedule, Renge could've chose to either arrive incredibly early, or late and of course she just had to pick the former. But waiting here wasn't all that bad. If, of course, you didn't count all the anxiety building up within her as bad.

"Not again..." Renge groaned as all of these annoying, looming thoughts began to swarm in her head. Suddenly, the wind picked up again and wisped Renge's grey beanie hat off her head. Realizing her hat had been taken by the wind and was now flying away, Renge ran madly for it.

"For fifteen dollars that I could've spent on food, I'm not letting you get away!" Renge muttered as she darted for her hat. Just when she thought her hat was going to be gone for good as it flew higher, her hat was grabbed by an ivory hand. She looked to see who her hat's savior was, whom she was only standing less than a foot from.

Nao was holding her hat and Renge reddened a little once she realized how close she was to him.

"I think this is yours." Nao stated as he handed Renge her hat back.

"Thanks." Renge panted as she took her hat back, but this time stuffing it in her pocket instead of wearing it in fear of losing it again," So shall we go?"

Nao nodded as he followed after Renge. The two had to walk for about ten minutes and they did so in moderate silence. Since it was getting pretty cold, the two of them decided to focus on getting to the aquarium before they initiated small talk.

Once they reached the entrance of the aquarium, the couple was rather taken aback by how ordinary the exterior of the building was. Plain white with only the words 'Umiyume Aquarium' written on the side of humongous building, the aquarium seemed average outdoors. But it sure was attracting a lot of people. Renge and Nao walked up the gradual but huge flight of steps leading to the aquarium's entrance.

They entered inside and purchased their tickets, which happened to be half-off this weekend. As the two were admitted into the aquarium, they stood in complete awe of their surroundings. Renge zipped towards a case full of different kinds of fish to take a better look at them. Their colours were so breathtaking, they looked so...unique, for lack of a better term. There were dozens of them and they all looked different from one another, it was like eye-candy for Renge. She had to take at least some pictures of the fish. But, making sure she be able to keep said pictures, if picture-taking here was prohibited, she took the pictures as discreetly as possible.

"Saw that." Nao deadpanned with a slight smirk as he walked up to her.

Renge smiled at him sheepishly as she buried her phone back into her pocket.

"I think it's safe to do that here though..." Nao declared as he gestured to a trio of tourists, using a selfie stick to take a picture behind another case of fish a couple of feet away from them.

Renge cringed as she watched them take the picture with the tacky device (the stick, not the phone) and the two of them wandered around the rest of the aquarium. As they were walking around, the two of them spotted Tamotsu from Pizza Perfection with a dark-skinned woman at his side. Renge smiled at him and he smiled back with a nod. Renge and Nao then went to view another display.

"Awh, look at these little guys!" Renge crooned as she and Nao were looking at a display of fish with even more gorgeous colours then the ones before. There were only a handful of them, well ok about four of them huddled close to the glass of the case while the rest of them were farther away and hid behind a large hunk of coral.

"Trippy..." Nao commented as he pointed to a striped blue and yellow fish.

"The Emperor Angelfish..." Renge read out as she looked at the little directory in front of her identifying which fish was which," Ooh, that one's my favourite, it reminds me of a Ring Pop."

Nao narrowed his eyes at her in question and then looked to the directory to see what fish that was," Klunzinger Wrasse..."

After they were done looking at that case, Renge pointed to a rather illuminate tunnel in a the corner of the spacious display room.

"Wanna go in here?" Renge offered to Nao, who simply nodded in response nonchalantly. The tunnel was indeed much more exhilarating then they expected it to be. It was overwhelming just standing in it! They were and yet, weren't surrounded by hundreds of fish, the entire tunnel (except for the floor) being an encasement. Watching all the creatures swim by around them was quite the feat. Fish, eels, seahorse, crabs, turtles, lobster, octopus, squids, it was like every sea creature on planet Earth was in here. It felt as if the two of them had been submerged into the sea there were so many creatures.

Suddenly, Renge's stomach grumbled and for the first time ever, Nao bursted out into laughter.

"I had a small lunch ok?!" Renge claimed as her face turned beet red," I wouldn't even eat any of the fish here! I could get mercury! Or, something..."

"Whatever you say..." Nao jeered as the two walked along in the tunnel.

"So you've been letting him do the dirty work, relentlessly looking for the book, while you just sit back here doing absolutely _nothing?"_ A voice from the inside of mirror sitting next to Temptasia questioned, sounding very, very unamused.

"I've been telling him where to look.." Temptasia explained, slumping into her throne.

"If you know where to look for the book, then why not just look for it yourself and let him get rid of those Pretty Cure once and for all?" The voice asked.

"I won't be able to find it, it's me it's hiding from anyways..." Temptasia grumbled," Considering I did try to rip it in half after all..."

 _"You what?!"_ The voice screamed so loudly that Temptasia clamped her ears shut out of impulse.

"Ugh, you want me to take action? Then fine, I will!" Temptasia shouted like a spoiled little brat, holding her head in her right hand.

"Hey, Temptasia, something the matter?" Rishi asked as he entered the room.

"Um...no. But I have a task for you." Temptasia informed as she conjured up a screen that displayed one of the tour guides at the aquarium, who was now off his break and back to struggling with the tour group.

"You know what to do." Temptasia said to Rishi, who in return saluted her and vanished.

Temptasia smiled a little, though Rishi was gone by now.

"Don't tell me, you have a thing for one of your subordinates?" The voice asked sounding rather unimpressed.

"No, that isn't it." Temptasia responded, unwavering and stern," He's just...a good kid."

As Renge and Nao continued to walk around the aquarium, Nao noticed Renge was getting a little tired now. No sign of her usual cheerful smile to brighten up her face as she watched the fish swim pass her and hold back a yawn.

"Ready to call it a day?"He asked her.

"Huh? I...sure, I guess." Renge trailed off with uncertainty, as she in truth really didn't want this date to end yet.

"Nothing we can do?" Nao finished for her," Well, at least we tried our best."

"Agh, get away from me!" The two of them heard a feminine voice shout at the top of their lungs. Renge and Nao ran towards where the voice was coming from and found one of the tour guides caught in a fishing net being cornered by what appeared to be an Anchor Delinquous.

"You!" The tour guide spat out towards Rishi, who was on slant of one of the fish tanks," What did I ever do to you that I have to be put through this?"

"Nothing," Rishi shrugged in a candid, uninterested tone as he lit a cigarette," But it seems _he's_ got some kinda grudge against you."

Renge turned to see just who Rishi was talking about and saw another tour guide, standing by himself looking quite upset.

"No staying back this time." Nao demanded as he tugged on Renge's arm.

She knew she couldn't leave at a time like this. What she should've been doing was calling up Kanari and Chiyo telling them about the Delinquous in the vicinity. It was times like this where she wished she could tell Nao she was a Pretty Cure and she was the only one who could stop this. Well, it was the only time that Renge felt compelled to tell Nao the truth, but something told her the rest of the team would have her head if she did.

"What if I can save that woman?" Renge reasoned, causing Nao to give her a skeptic look. Looking at her made him feel like he wasn't telling her the whole truth about something and it appeared she really felt like she could in fact save Umina. But was letting her go and put herself in danger worth the risk?

"If you can save her, do it quickly..." Nao sighed reluctantly as he left.

"You're the best." Renge beamed before Nao took off.

 _"I know."_ Nao thought to himself.

Renge then took out her phone and called Kanari and Chiyo, with the both of them responding thankfully. Now with her fellow Cures on their way, all that was left was to transform, which was now made easy to do with the evacuation of the aquarium.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" Renge announced, the usual array of red lights swarming all around her.

"The subject of writing and awe-striking empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

"You, descendant of evil! You will let that innocent girl go right this instant!" Literature commanded heroically as she pointed to the Delinquous.

"Don't listen to her!" Rishi called out unenthusiastically, now laying on the slant," Keep the girl hostage."

And so, the Delinquous did as told and kept the tour guide held against the net while it went over to Literature. The Delinquous swung for her and Literature ducked in a heartbeat, feeling the impact of the blow that the Delinquous delivered to the wall behind her.

"Guess now someone else is going to be after my head..." Literature remarked as she looked at the mark the Delinquous left on the wall," I wonder how it's going hurt if I..."

Literature darted up towards the Delinquous and kicked it square in the center. The Delinquous only flew two or three feet and it seemed it was half as badly affected by that as Literature was. Holding her feet and wincing away the pain, she gritted her teeth and made a note to herself aloud,

"Alright, so I'm never going to try and kick an anchor like that ever again. Ugh, this is really gonna hurt in the morning..." With one final groan, she returned to her battle with the Delinquous.

Despite the fact the Delinquous was quite slow due to the fact that moving itself was so tiring, Literature was still struggling in trying to figure out how she and her fellow Cures (once they arrived) would defeat this one. It was an anchor, what were they supposed to do? As she was fighting against the Delinquous, she noticed something she could do in the meantime. Watching the tour guide continue to try and break free from the fishnets she was held against, Literature bolted up towards the girl and released her from the fishnets.

"Thank you so much!" The tour guide cried in gratitude.

"Just get out of here and...try not to be so hard on your co-workers.." Literature advised, her gaze falling to the floor as she said that last part.

"Uh...right." The tour guide replied as she darted out of the room.

"Hey, the girl is running away, go get her!" Rishi demanded as he spotted the escaping tour guide.

"Delinquous!" the Delinquous boomed as it lunged for her, who thankfully made it out just in time due to Literature holding the anchor back. The Delinquous drew back and this time, it looked like it was about to sink it's stock onto her.

"Why am I always in these situations?" Literature squeaked as she held her hands over her head," No...if I give in like this, the aquarium's going to be destroyed, and I don't want to let that happen. I..I.."

"I've got to be my own hero!" Literature shouted as she her fingertips glowed an enchanting shade of burgundy.

"Pretty Cure, Assassinating Diamante!" Literature yelled as a pale coloured diamond with a burgundy tint that seemed to have phrases and words circling around inside of it was launched straight towards the Delinquous from Literature's palms.

The Delinquous fell over but, it wasn't down for too long. Literature ,however, was too impressed with her new attack to even pay attention to Delinquous rising back up again. Just as she noticed the Delinquous towering over her again, she tried to use her new attack.

"Pretty Cure, Assassinating Diamante!" She cried, but nothing appeared this time. She looked at her palms in shock, wondering just why it wasn't working. Realizing that the Delinquous was about to drop itself onto her again, she tried to use Poetic Jurisdiction but again...nothing.

"Pretty Cure Geometric Frenzy!" She heard a voice cry as an attack of compiled of shapes made contact with the Delinquous.

The Delinquous stumbled back and in front of her stood her Cure Arithmetic and Cure History.

"Am I ever glad you guys are here..." Literature remarked, sounding extremely relieved.

"Hope your date was going well, at least up until this part..." Arithmetic snickered.

Literature shrugged a bit with an awkward smile and fought alongside her fellow Cures.

Arithmetic drove a punch into the center of the anchor, and instantly felt a surge of pain course through her arm, not unlike Literature earlier.

"It's an anchor." History deadpanned in a condescending manner," Would you punch a normal anchor?"

"No..." Arithmetic grumbled.

As Rishi watched the girls battle the Delinquous, he wondered aloud," I'm still curious to know as why you girls just don't quit."

Literature seemed irritated as she declared,"...Because if we quit now, who the heck's going to stop you jerks from doing stuff like this?"

"Hey, at least you wouldn't need to fight these things." Rishi pointed out sounding a little intrigued by Literature's declaration," I'm just saying."

"We won't stop until you guys stop. All you people ever seem to do is hurt others and use their feelings of ambition to make these monsters! You manipulated those feelings out of that guy, just to cause him more pain! What point is there in even doing all that?"

Rishi rolled his eyes at her question and watched Literature try and fend off the Delinquous.

"Well you know what? I don't even care. Because, in response to your last question, we can't give up until this ends. No matter the cost!" Literature cried as she threw the Delinquous to History, who unintentionally threw it towards Rishi. The Delinquous broke the glass Rishi was sitting on and he got submerged into the tank as the arm on the anchor was hanging onto the glass that remained intact, though said glass seeming to be ready to crack at any time under the weight of the Delinquous.

"Quick, before the glass breaks!" Arithmetic instructed.

Literature gave her a thumbs-up and called out," Pretty Cure, Language of Justice!"

The Delinquous was cleansed and Anri's coral Inner Scholar returned back to him. Rishi, after countless attempts of trying to climb out from the tank, was finally out, soaking wet and sneezed before escaping back to Temptation.

"So um, I guess we'll leave you back to your date if you can find him at least..." Kanari said as she pulled Chiyo along out of the room.

"Just who is Renge going out with?" Chiyo asked as she was pushed out of the room by Kanari.

"All in due time." Kanari responded to her as Renge awkwardly waved goodbye to them. Now all that was left was to find Nao and that tour guide.

Renge discovered the tour guide fast asleep in the tunnel and somehow, the sight was so...strange and at the same time, kinda magical. Perhaps it was because he was surrounded by all the fish and the aqua light from the tanks all beating down on him. It really was quite the sight.

"So this is where you've escaped to." Nao said from behind her, startling the poor girl.

"Nao! I, um...is everyone allowed to go back in?" Renge asked as she watched a flood of people enter the aquarium.

"Normally under these circumstances. The aquarium would be closed for the rest of the day..." Nao explained briskly,"..But, that girl from before kept telling the manager that it was safe for the rest of the day, that they didn't have to close the aquarium and somehow...she won."

"Wow, uh that's pretty extraordinary.." Renge remarked stiffly before hearing what sounded like the tour guide stirring. She then spun around to attend to him, while Nao continued to stare at Renge suspiciously. After a couple more moments, Anri awoke, seeming unsure of his surroundings and having no idea as to what had happened before he was out cold.

"Are you alright?" Renge asked softly as he slowly stood up.

"I think so..." The tour guide answered, trying to figure out what happened to him," Um...did anything big happen?"

"What? No, not at all. I think you got too stressed out and fainted though.." Renge suggested.

"Seriously? Wow, I guessed I really had to be _that_ stressed for that to happen, huh?" He said as he looked down," It's weird, I had this dream that a giant mosnter came and trapped my coworker Umina in a giant net...hey where did everyone go?"

"Um, everyone had to be evacuated all of a sudden but we don't know why yet." Renge lied on the spot, hoping the tour guide would believe her.

"And you two stayed at my side until I woke up?" The tour guide asked incredulously. Renge and Nao exchanged glances, unsure of how to respond.

"Yes?" Renge replied nervously, hoping she wouldn't get in trouble for saying that.

"Wow, that's really kind of you. Dangerous, but still kind I guess. You know what? For doing something like that, I think I'm going to show you guys something." The tour guide declared as he led them out of the the tunnel. They both looked at him in question but they followed along regardless. It seemed he was taking the two of them to a secluded area, unknown to most people. Finally, the three of them arrived at a door and the tour guide reached into his pocket and opened it with a key.

The door led to the roof top of the aquarium and even though it was a little plain, it had a really nice view of the city.

"Oh my gosh this is so cool!" Renge gushed as she ran towards the rails around the roof top to look over the city.

"I think she's what you call, a keeper?" The tour guide chuckled, giving Nao an elbow-nudge.

"So I've been told." Nao responded as he walked over to Renge.

"Just try not to stay for too long, otherwise my boss might find out..." The tour guide said sheepishly as he left the two alone.

The two of them leaned over the railings and looked down at their city. No one noticed them from below and it was just so peaceful here. Not to mention, it actually did get warmer and Renge didn't even need her jacket anymore.

Even though it was times like this when she would just indulge in moments like this, her mind was elsewhere. She was still thinking about that new attack of hers and how she couldn't use it a second time nor use her other attack. But she was able to purify it. What was with that? Did she need to like..recharge or something? As she thought about this, her eyes grew heavy-lidded and she was subconsciously leaning on Nao.

Nao was lost in thought, thinking about what just happened, what he just saw. It explained quite a bit, but...not enough. Or did it? Maybe he overlooked a few things, maybe he'd immerse himself deeper into thought about it later. For now, he had other things, better things, to do. He smiled down at the seemingly asleep Renge and pondered quietly,

"Where were you when that girl Umina escaped?"

Suddenly, the two of them heard Renge's phone ring and Renge shot up immediately.

"Ugh, what nowww~?" Renge groaned as she answered the phone," Hi, Hikaru?"

"What, like how soon? Alright, I'll try ok? Ok, ok, I'll go ok?" Renge said to Hikaru on the phone.

She looked over to Nao with a rather guilty look in her eye," I've got to head home...I'm really sorry."

"No it's ok, it's about time I leave too anyways." Nao responded.

"Today was really fun though." Renge admitted. Nao nodded in agreement.

"Well I guess I'll see you on Monday ok?" Renge said nervously as she went in for a hug.

The two of them walked down the stairs from the roof top and left the aquarium going their separate ways, but not without a shy wave towards each other.

Renge then turned her attention back to her phone, glaring down at it with utmost rage. She was having a super-sweet, cute moment with Nao! Why, why of all times did her stupid brother have to call her? She then checked her call log and noticed he actually had called her four times prior to that. She must've been too busy with the Delinquous to answer.

"I guess I shouldn't so angry that it's over but rather...delighted that it happened." Renge sighed. She also told Nao she had to go home instead the actual location Hikaru told her out of convenience. Going to where she was supposed to be heading, Mizumoto Meadow, wasn't going to be hard. It only took two buses.

About forty minutes later, Renge finally arrived at Mizumoto Meadow. It was a quaint, homely little restaurant where the staff felt like one big family and where food was for the most part, great quality. The maroon walls and not so bright lighting made Renge feel at home. She hadn't been here since July.

Renge checked her phone for the time, about five-thirty now. So her mom would be getting off work any time now. She looked for her and being unable to find her, assuming that she was in the back giving an order to one of the chefs.

She found Hikaru and surprisingly, her fellow Cures at a booth.

"What are we doing here?" Renge asked, sounding quite tired.

"Mom said we're having dinner here." Hikaru answered as he looked over the menu, even though he and Renge both knew all too well what he was going to get.

"She did?" Renge asked curiously. That was weird, they _never_ had dinner here. They only ate from here when their mom, Sanae, would bring food from work on Sundays. But Renge decided against questioning the matter, her stomach ferociously growling for food now upon catching the scent of it.

Chiyo began to speak sounding quite astonished,"Renge, you didn't say you were-"

"-Going to be late! Very late!" Kanari finished for her as she shut Chiyo's mouth with her hand. Renge had a feeling that wasn't what Chiyo was going to say.

"Hikaru, we're going to start talking about bras now ok?" Kanari affirmed as she stared over at Hikaru, unwavering.

"Don't want to hear this! If anyone needs me I'll be in the bathroom!" Hikaru shouted as he left the booth.

"Works like a charm." Kanari grinned.

"You didn't say anything about having a boyfriend!" Chiyo remarked, her voice lowering to a whisper.

"Well, it didn't come up..." Renge shrugged awkwardly.

"So, who is he?" Chiyo asked curiously as she leaned in closer.

Renge darted her eyes in both directions before answering. Seeing as there was nobody in sight, Renge opened her mouth but shut it suddenly upon hearing,

"Are you girls actually talking about bras or did you just say that to scare away Hikaru?" A woman asked. Walking over to them a woman who looked a lot like Renge, except she didn't wear glasses and her hair came to her shoulders. She even had bangs just like Renge.

"Scare him away..." Renge admitted sheepishly.

"That wasn't very nice Ren..." Sanae shook her head as she took out a notepad," So, what can I get you all?"

Before any of them could speak, a voice interrupted them. It was smooth, and determined, maybe even a little bit cold if one listened too hard.

"I'll have a hot chicken sandwich dinner, with extra tomatoes and hot sauce." The voice ordered. Chiyo choked on the water she was drinking, wondering if her ears were playing tricks on her.

"Well, it's been a while since I've heard that one and every time it gets ordered, it's ordered by the same person." Sanae declared as she wrote it down," Nice to hear from you again, Yoshino Sakurami."


	11. It's been two years you know

Standing in the doorway of Mizumoto Meadow was a woman with short very dark brown hair, seemingly black if it wasn't for it tinting a chocolate tone underneath the lights. She was tall and slender, and towered over most people in the restaurant, Chiyo being no exception despite her height. She dressed in designer clothes that looked like each article of clothing was around a thousand dollars a piece. Or perhaps that was the girls over-exaggerating. But the one thing that was driving the girls, particularly Renge and Kanari, insane was the fact that this woman looked just like Chiyo and they couldn't understand why. The woman's grey eyes were stern with a dignified aloofness to them, not unlike Chiyo. But, the one thing that set her apart from Chiyo was when she approached the booth where the girls and Sanae were, she smiled hugely and hugged Sanae tightly.

"Sanae, it's so long!" The woman, Yoshino, gushed as she hugged Sanae.

"I know, it's been so long I didn't think you'd ever come back!" Sanae trilled as their hug was broken, her comment causing Chiyo to flinch a little," But at least after all these years, I've finally met your daughter!"

Renge and Kanari exchanged confused expressions before figuring out who Sanae was talking about. The two of them glanced over to Chiyo who looked, for once in her life, timid. Her eyes were set on the table and made as little eye contact with her mother as possible. Finally, before an awkward silence emerged, Yoshino broke the ice and said,

"Well, Chiyo aren't you going to give your mom a hug?" Yoshino beckoned as she held her arms out out.

Everyone could see how tense Chiyo had been originally but her tense vibes were dropped in an instant as she stood up and smiled warmly to her mother. She hugged her very briefly and engaged in small talk with her mom.

"Mom, it's really great to see you. How've you been? How is it like living in America?" Chiyo asked as she brought a chair from the next to them by the booth so her mom could sit down. Yoshino then withdrew something out from with her Prada bag and laid it flat on the table for everyone to see. It was a photo album labeled _Spring of the Century Fashion Show._

"Let's just say it's been an amazing year." Yoshino cheered as she opened the book to book-marked page, showing off the page with models pictured in outfits on a runway. It appeared that the whole book had been of pictures with models in them.

"Wow Yoshino, I must say...you've come so far and I'm so happy for you!" Sanae declared as she looked through the book.

The models were dressed in mostly neutral colours but everything just looked so chic and timeless, yet unique in their own way. Everyone seemed so impressed by all of these fashions and Yoshino seemed to be quite proud of her designs.

"Oh my gosh, I've seen her before! Isn't she the supermodel Valentina Donahue?" Renge questioned as she pointed to a model with curly blonde hair and very red lips. Yoshino nodded vigorously in response.

"Yup! Such a beautiful girl." Yoshino remarked as she watched the girls flip through the book.

"So, if I'm not mistaken...you're like a really famous fashion designer right?" Kanari asked hesitantly, resulting in her receiving a kick in the shins from Renge.

"I wouldn't say really famous, but everyone else I know would." Yoshino smirked as she closed her book and placed it back into her bag," Yup, years and years of hard work and determination coupled with talent can really go a long way."

"But Yoshino, wouldn't it have been easier to have relocated your business in Japan?" Sanae questioned, readying herself to leave so she could place the order.

"That is precisely why I couldn't make it to the top if I had stayed in Japan. If I didn't have the courage to move when I did, well, I probably would've still been stuck at that jewelery store!" Yoshino claimed.

"But I thought you liked the jewelery store." Sanae commented with a slight frown.

"Just because I liked it doesn't mean I was willing to spend the rest of my life there!" Yoshino exclaimed as if her answer was obvious," I'm here in town for the next two days because I'm meeting with a potential business partner. After that, I'm heading back home."

"So, when's the next time you think you'll be in town then?" Kanari asked for Chiyo's sake, who returned to staring down awkwardly at the table.

"I'm planning for maybe some time in the summer next year. I've been wanting to have my designs modeled on a sleek figure against a warm, colourful sunset. But not here of course, I was thinking more like... somewhere in the Kanto region." Yoshino proposed, who after saying that aloud, quickly typed it into the memo pad on her phone.

"So uh, does Dad know about you being in town?" Chiyo abruptly asked.

Yoshino turned off her phone and gave herself a moment to think, trying to remember whether or not she informed him about her unexpected visit.

"I think I did..." Yoshino responded, as she scanned her memory of such an event," But either way, I think he'll be thrilled to see me!"

"When did you last speak to Dad anyways?" Chiyo questioned as she began to fidget with the salt-shaker in her grip.

"I'm pretty sure we Skyped last Thursday..." Yoshino replied as she took out her AiPad and attempted to connect her device to the restaurant's wifi.

 _"You liar. Dad was at a meeting last Thursday."_ Chiyo thought as she came very close to glaring daggers at her mother, but quickly restrained herself from doing so.

"Well, how about after we all have dinner, we all come to my home and I can show you girls a sneak peek at some of my winter designs!" Yoshino suggested excitedly.

The girls, minus Chiyo, nodded in approval while Chiyo just glowered down to the salt-shaker in her hands. After dinner, the girls including Sanae were all driven by Yoshino in her van that she rented for the weekend. When they arrived at the Sakurami home, all of our Cures were surprised for their own separate reasons. Renge was astonished by how average, yet modern the house was, Kanari was impressed by how close this neighbourhood was to the school as if it was a hidden away community reserved for the above average household. Meanwhile, Chiyo was surprised that Yoshino remembered where their house was.

Welcome to our abode!" Yoshino greeted as she put a firm around Chiyo as they all stood in front of the house. Chiyo didn't seem to like her mother using the term 'their house' considering she was never home. They all walked in and everyone seemed extremely astonished by how posh and fancy Chiyo's house really was. Kanari silently cursed herself for not expecting this while Renge looked at how unkempt certain parts of the house were. Many of the paintings were crooked, if not all of them which made Renge wondered if they were supposed at that unusual angle they were all in. The expensive looking vases looked rather dusty, as if they hadn't been touched in years and now that Renge thought about it, the furniture and everything else seemed quite average, plain really.

"Has your maid been slacking?" Sanae jeered as she elbow-nudged Chiyo.

"We don't have a maid." Chiyo responded passively as she sat down onto the single-seating chair in the living room.

"I can't believe the condition of this place! It's as if nobody lives here it looks so untouched!" Yoshino complained," And couldn't you guys have bought some nicer looking couches? You know, leather is really in right now."

"We all liked the furniture so we kept it." Chiyo responded tonelessly as she crossed her legs.

"Wow, you buy your family a nice house and this is how they display it?" Yoshino sighed as she shook her head," But it's fine. Really it is. I personally never had anything against the furniture aside from the fact that it was getting dated, but I can respect my family's choice. Speaking of family, where's the rest of them?"

"Dad should be coming off work anytime now and as for Yukari, she's staying at a friend's house tonight." Chiyo answered.

"Well, I can't wait to see them." Yoshino commented jubilantly.

Suddenly, the door opened and in came a tall man wearing a dark grey suit with light brown hair like Chiyo and sporting a thin beard.

"Chi, I'm home." The man said absently as he took off his shoes.

"What a coincidence, so am I!" Yoshino beamed as she held out her arms to the man who was now in the living room.

"Yoshino?" The man questioned as he ran up to the woman and hugged tightly, spinning her in the air.

"Hajime, it's great to see you!" Yoshino cried in joy as she was put down.

"You didn't say anything about coming! We would've had this whole place straightened and spotless for you." Hajime explained as stretched his arms around himself to put emphasis on the term 'this whole place'

"You wouldn't have to have done that," Yoshino giggled," So, how about I show you guys some of Chiyo's baby pictures?"

"Yes!" Kanari yelled with utmost enthusiasm, receiving a punch to the stomach from Chiyo in return.

"But they're all the way in the basement somewhere, it would be too much of a hassle to unearth those things." Chiyo explained as she closed her eyes.

"Actually, I think Yukari needed some pictures for a project last week so she took a lot of the albums out from the basement. As a matter of fact..." Hajime began as he grabbed something sitting at the corner of the dining table. He dropped a pile of photo albums on top of the table in front of him.

"Ugh..." Chiyo groaned as her face turned red with humiliation.

Soon, the entire group was seated and huddled over very old pictures of the Sakurami family, with the adults seated on the three-seater sofa and the girls on the loveseat.

"I remember that dress!" Sanae exclaimed as she joyously pointed to picture of a younger Yoshino donning a gleaming, pale yellow sun dress under a mint coloured blazer.

"Goodness, I can't believe I ever thought those two looked good together," Yoshino remarked, shaking her head in disapproval at her younger self's fashion sense.

"Do you still have it?" Sanae asked.

"Oh of course I do!" Yoshino interjected," It's one of those things I could never part with, at least, not yet."

"Chiyo I didn't know you had a twin sister!" Kanari exclaimed in shock as she pointed to a picture of a younger Chiyo next to a girl who looked a bit like her, but not enough to be twins.

"Kanari, that girl's hair is darker, plus Chiyo's never mentioned a twin sister..." Renge stated, who then looked over to Chiyo questioningly, now wondering too if Chiyo had a twin sister.

"Would you two stop staring at me like that? It's just my cousin Wakaba. We're same age, but she lives an hour away from here." Chiyo debriefed flatly.

"How times flies..." Yoshino remarked as she glanced at a photo of her and the rest of her family standing outside of their old house, Chiyo being six and Yukari being three.

"Well, it is getting late so how about we head home?" Sanae suggested.

"Sure! Um, Chiyo where's the closest bus stop?" Renge asked as Yoshino giggled.

"If you guys need a ride, I'd be happy to give you one!" Yoshino offered with one last giggle escaping her lips.

"You know what? I think I can do that, since your time here is very limited anyways." Hajime offered as he motioned the group, minus Chiyo and Yoshino to the front door. The girls said good night and were gone very shortly, leaving the mother-daughter duo alone in the house.

"You're looking more and more like me you know that?" Yoshino told Chiyo," You know what that means?"

Chiyo remained silent, waiting for her mother to give her an answer.

"That means you're on your way to being jaw-droppingly beautiful!" Yoshino chirped with a wink," Not to say you aren't already beautiful."

"Thank you." Chiyo said neutrally, with a forced smile," By the way-"

Suddenly, Yoshino's phone began to rang from within her purse.

"Hold that thought." Yoshino requested as she answered her phone," Hello? Yes this is Yoshino speaking. Oh, Takehashi it's so great to hear from you!"

That conversation dragged on for much longer than Chiyo expected, though she was surprised she expected any different in the first place. After a while, Chiyo quietly retreated to her room, turning on only her desk-top lamp light instead of the ceiling's light. With the only source of light from the room coming from Chiyo's lamp light, the room was rather dim. But, for now, Chiyo preferred it this way. But even though the room was dim, one could tell Chiyo's room was quite large as it was able to fit a queen sized bed. The walls appeared to be a pale shade of yellow, like a buttercup and said walls were adorned with only a few wall hangings of paintings and that was about it. In her room there was also a very large chair at her near her window and a small plain desk with some books and her laptop lying upon it.

Slowly, she walked to her desk, after sitting curled up in a ball on her bed for what felt like an eternity, but was in actuality no longer than ten minutes and pulled something out from her desk drawer.

It was what appeared to be an ornament of an angel with a shimmery pale gold dress with dainty silver wings and curly brown hair that came to her shoulders. The angel was rather dusty and some paint had been chipped off from it, but Chiyo loved the ornament all the same. But today, when looked at it, she felt something tugging away at her heart the longer she stared down at the angel.

It was a gift from her mom, when she still lived with them and was still working at Sakurami Jewelers. Knowing that her daughter was obsessed with angels (And still is to this day) she bought it for her Christmas present years ago. It was love at first sight when Chiyo unwrapped the present, hugging her mom tightly shortly after. Her mom said she there were many, many angels at the store she found it in, but this just reminded her so much of Chiyo that she just had to get it for her.

That was when Chiyo was seven, a few years before her mother became famous.

During those few years before her mother became a fashion designer, Chiyo remembered constantly bragging to all of her friends in middle school, telling them that one day she would model her mothers' clothes. Her friends were so amazed by the idea, and now thinking back to those days, Chiyo was regretting all that gloating so didn't even want to be a model anymore. It was nice to be ignorant about what would become of her relationship with her mom once she became famous. But of course, once she did get famous, there was no more ignorance. It all started with her designs grabbing the attention of many important people, something Yoshino wanted very much. And soon, that spawned an interview with some even more important person and the next thing eleven year old Chiyo knew, she only would see her mother twice a week. And as the weeks passed by, those two times a week would become shorter and shorter. Yoshino found herself constantly apologizing to her little girls, saying that soon, this would lead to something mind-blowing and worth all this distance that had set in after these few months.

And, Yoshino was right. Something mind-blowing did happen. But Chiyo definitely didn't feel that all of that loneliness those few months was worth it, especially not after what it lead to. In the spring just before Chiyo's first year of middle school came to an end, Yoshino got her highest calling; an offer to work with a famous designer in America. Without a doubt, Yoshino accepted the offer and the very next morning after she received that call, she got on a plane and left her family for her dreams.

At that time, Chiyo, despite being very upset, was happy for her mother and wished her the best though it hurt her heart to say so. She remembered waving good-bye to her mother as she walked on those steps to board the plane and could also remember Yukari's powerful sobs with such ease. That day was one of those days that had been haunting her for a few years now because it was the last time her family felt like a family.

Those first few days, Chiyo called her mom every single day, making sure her mom was eating properly, getting enough sleep and adjusting well. While Yoshino would always tell her daughter in the most loving way possible that this was for the best. But soon, those responses began to feel a little more empty each time they were said. A couple of months after, when Chiyo had arrived from school after a bad day, she called her mom despite the fact that it would be too early to call her, since she would likely be asleep. But surprisingly, her mom was awake and Chiyo bursted into tears and begged her mom to come home.

Gravely, and with complete sympathy for her daughter, Yoshino denied her desperate daughter her request. That was the last time Chiyo felt genuine sympathy coming from her mother. The next few times when she called on the phone, her conversations with her mother usually consisted of her begging to come home again. Chiyo figured that if she did it enough times, her mom would give in. She even got Yukari in on it one time. But as the months slowly turned into years, Chiyo gave up on her childish plea. Her calls to her mother were less frequent and the conversations became shorter and shorter. After a while, before she gave up on begging her mom to come home, she realized something. Her mom was living her life the way she wanted to; she was making her dreams come true. And while it hurt Chiyo to know that her mother's dream cost her the relationship she once had with her family, she wondered if that hurt would even compare to Yoshino giving up on her dreams and coming home for the sake of her selfish daughters?

As the years were passing by and Yoshino's visits were becoming a lot less frequent, the family became slightly less familiar with Yoshino. They knew she was was doing great as a fashion designer, but because of how little they talked to her Yoshino didn't know what was going on with her family. Birthday presents began to feel more generic and mother's day felt a lot less appreciative and more dreadful. Whenever Chiyo would message her mom on her phone, it made her feel as if she was texting an old friend from elementary she didn't care to keep in touch with but had to otherwise she'd feel guilty.

About a little over a year ago, Yoshino realized how unhealthy this distance was for her and her family so, she made them an offer. She asked them all if they wanted to move to America with her. Chiyo was surprised it took her that long to ask, but when her father told her about the question, it made her feel like this wasn't the first time she asked it, at least, not to him.

By that point, Chiyo was past trying to connect with her mom, not that she didn't want to but, there were just some things that were more important right now to compromise for some move to reunite her family. Though her thoughts about the subject sounded bleak, her family agreed that they didn't want to move either. Not due to any hatred towards Yoshino but rather, because they were comfortable where they were now. Chiyo and her father both agreed that her moving in the middle of high school was...not such a pleasant idea and Yukari being only in middle school was also another thing to take note of. The family didn't feel ready to leave their beloved home and the girls would've much rather have at least finish high-school before even thinking about moving away.

So, to make up to her family about being so absent upon hearing their decision, Yoshino bought the family a new house in an attempt to make up for her not being around. At first, Chiyo and her father were very against it. But once they looked at the house and thought about Yoshino's intentions when purchasing the home, the family decided to move into the house, despite it feeling almost too lavish for them.

And, while Yoshino's annual income was enough to supply the whole family to make them rich, they didn't ever take any of her money. Not a single dime, unless you counted the house. Chiyo and her father both believed in hard work and so, they were more than happy to work for a living.

Chiyo sat back onto her bed, with the angel sitting right in front of her. There had been many times when she'd bring the angel out whenever she craved time with her mother. There were also times when she had wanted to throw it against the wall and watch it shatter into a million pieces. But, she never found the strength in herself to do that, so lifelessly for extended periods of time, it resided in her desk drawer.

As she stared at the angel while lost in thought, she kept thinking back to that day, along with another day that was a little painful to recall for her. Her happy family of four felt like it was just a memory, but Chiyo kept telling herself it wasn't true. She also kept telling herself she wasn't being selfish that day when her mom offered them to move to America with her.

With her eyes closed and her head against her bedroom wall, she quietly said aloud," ...We made the right choice."

Two days later, it was time for her mom to go home. Since she had been working on designs and talking with people on the phone for the majority of the last two days, it felt as if if her stay was much shorter than it actually was. It was early(ish) morning on Monday, the Cures coming just before school started to accompany Chiyo in saying bye to her mother. Her little sister Yukari was also there with her. The two of them were seated by the boarding gates while Renge and Kanari were looking at a display of suitcases. Yukari looked extremely tense, as if she was about to board the plane herself. Her hair was the same colour as Chiyo's but much longer and she had her mother's grey eyes. She was also dressed in her middle school uniform along with shoes that Chiyo deemed indecent. Grey stilettos were a definite no for a girl Yukari's age in Chiyo's eyes.

"Do you want a pair of socks?" Chiyo asked her sister flatly as she turned her face to the side.

"They're gonna look stupid with my shoes!" Yukari complained.

"Yeah, well your going to look even stupider with a pair of socks tying you to your chair and goose bumps all over your legs if you don't take them." Chiyo said as she handed her sister a pair of knee-highs from her bag.

With a little grumbling, Yukari reluctantly took her sister's socks and put them on.

"Don't look now but..." Yukari said under her breath to Chiyo as she put the socks on,"...I don't think that girl with the pigtails has an adult with her."

Chiyo spun around to see the girl and there saw the little girl with blonde hair and bright green eyes swinging her legs that hung from the seat and look around the airport like she didn't have a care in the world.

"What makes you think that?" Chiyo asked her quietly, her eyes still on the girl.

"She's been sitting here for a half-hour by herself." Yukari answered.

"Should we go ask her where her parents are?" Chiyo asked.

"If we don't, someone else will." Yukari stated, implying that the someone else might not be someone safe.

The sisters walked up to the little girl who greeted them with a friendly, warm smile which made the girls feel less comfortable.

"Hi there dear, listen...we noticed you've been sitting here for a long time without your parents...did they step out for some fresh air?" Chiyo asked in a gentle manner.

"No, I'm actually going to see them." The girl beamed as she continued to swing her dangling legs on the chair.

"Oh, so they're arriving from the plane that's landing?" Yukari asked.

"Um no, actually _I'm_ going to see _them_." She responded without missing a beat.

Chiyo and Yukari looked quite shocked. They exchanged expressions and figured that the girl was going without her guardian's permission so they chose to do some further interrogation.

"Do your parents know? Or your guardian?" Chiyo inquired.

The girl tensed up a little bit, her eyes shifting up to the right before answering," Yes, they do."

"So then why are they letting you fly a plane all by yourself?" Chiyo asked sternly, not believing a single word from the girl's response.

"B-because they trust me." The girl responded, sounding a little nervous now.

"Even if they trusted you...something tells me they wouldn't decide to let you ride a plane by yourself.." Chiyo concluded indifferently,"...It seems to me like you're running away."

"Ok! I'm going on the plane to America to go find my dad and my step-mom. I don't like living with my mom any more, she doesn't understand me!" The girl cried.

"So dramatic!" Yukari remarked sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"You're one to talk." Chiyo muttered as she knelt down in front on the girl," But...how are you going to get on the plane if you-"

The girl then held out a boarding pass for Chiyo and Yukari to see. The pair of sisters were shocked upon seeing the boarding pass in the girls hands, who smirked a little at their expressions.

"How did you get that?" Yukari asked in an incredulous voice, as the girl waved the boarding pass in front of the girls' faces.

"Let's just say a lot gets by my mom!" The girl cheered in a mildly disturbing tone.

Chiyo held her hand against her face for a moment trying to regain the composure that she knew was crucial for a situation like this. The best thing to do right now would be to tell of the officers around the airport right? She then decided what she was going to do.

"Sweetie, we're not upset..." Chiyo declared in a newly-found serene and friendly tone with a hand extended out to the girl,"But, this isn't a very good idea you have so-"

The girl looked at Chiyo as if she was currently reminding her of somebody she absolutely hated. Being so condescending and acting as if she was the boss of her. It made the little girl sick to her stomach and impulsively slapped Chiyo's hand away and ran off.

"Hey wait!" Yukari shouted as they watched the girl dash off," Shoot, what're we supposed to do now?"

"Go get an officer. I'll bring her back here." Chiyo dictated indifferently as she ran for the girl.

"How dare she! Trying to act like she's my mom." The girl thought to herself, blinking back a few tears," I don't care how powerful she thinks she is! Nobody's going to get in the way of me finding my dad!"

Zephora and Rishi sat at a bar that the two of them conjured up, with the former stirring her pale pink drink around vigorously as she thought deeply about something that had been on her mind for the last few days. The harder she thought, the faster and more recklessly she stirred. Her anger peaked and just before her wine glass split all over the counter, Rishi held her cup back from doing so.  
"Easy there," He advised, appearing to be very bothered by Zephora's careless stirring," Any faster and your drink's going to spill."

Zephora sighed and gulped down half her drink in an instant, pushing her glass to the side after she did so.

"You've been looking a little...lost in thought lately." Rishi pointed out.

"It's that girl, the one who...that new Cure..." Zephora explained vaguely with a groan.

"Oh yeah that's right...you were the one there for her awakening.." Rishi reminded himself as Zephora reached for her glass, but then quickly drew her hand back.

"She's much more of a threat than the other girls..." Zephora mentioned,"..Because something tells me-"

"-She's really getting on your nerves isn't she?" Rishi questioned playfully, a large grin on his face.

Zephora looked at him appearing rather annoyed and Jika walked in the room.

"Um-! Zephora...Temptasia and I saw something we think you'd might be interested in..." Jika squeaked as she materialized a large screen in front of the two, displaying Chiyo running after the little girl at a break neck pace.

"Now's my chance..." Zephora said as she poured more of that pink liquid into her glass," I'll get rid of Cure History, once and for all!"

She took a hefty sip from her glass and offered the rest to Rishi, who appeared to be almost...scared at the sight of the drink.

"No thanks..." Rishi said warily as he put a hand in front of the drink.

"Are you sure~?" She crooned as she held the drink closer to him.

Looking rather uncomfortable, Rishi made like a Missingno and glitched out of the room.

"His loss.." Zephora shrugged as she drank the remainder of the drink and slammed the glass on the table before leaving.

"I wonder if that had to do with that one time a few days ago..." Jika wondered, remembering how when Rishi had liquor in his system, she couldn't understand a word he said, like he was speaking in a different tongue. Jika shook off the thought after another moment.

"Hello there little girl, is somebody taking a trip?" Zephora asked as she appeared in front of the little girl. The little girl stopped in her tracks and stared up to Zephora with fear. She knew nothing about this woman glowering down at her and yet, she felt as if she had every reason to be afraid of this woman before her. Shaking with complete fear in position, she stared at Zephora who began to remove her Inner Scholar from her. The little girl felt hard against the floor and Chiyo caught to them, glaring at Zephora holding the Inner Scholar. For once she felt an unsettling rage emerge from within her and she drew out her pen.

Zephora then created a Delinquous from nearby a vending machine with the little girl's Inner Scholar. Chiyo was about to transform but just then, Zephora demanded the Delinquous to snatch her pen away from her, which it did successfully.

Chiyo tried to lunge back for the pen while it was still in hand's reach for a split-second, but her attempts were futile. Appearing extremely upset, Chiyo balled her fists and shouted to the Delinquous.

"Give that back right this instant!"

"Why? You didn't want to a Pretty Cure in the first place? Why try and fight back now?" Zephora questioned mockingly.

Chiyo grimaced at the sight of her pen in the hands of the Delinquous and so, without a second thought, she dashed up to the Delinquous and attempted to kick it with all her might. But instead of the Delinquous flinching at any pain Chiyo may have caused it, the monstrous vending machine picked up Chiyo and held her as tight as it could in it's grasp.

Chiyo tried to fight her way out of the Delinquous death-grip, feeling her legs being crushed against each other in each in the Delinquous' grip.

"Quit struggling." Zephora ordered as she watched Chiyo try and escape the Delinquous' hand," By the end of today, you'll be history."

Chiyo face was turning red after trying to break free from the Delinquous' grasp, but she kept relentlessly trying to fight her way out.

"Chiyo!" Renge shouted as her and Kanari stood in front of the Delinquous and their imprisoned friend.

Chiyo looked over to her friends in distress and out of breath while Zephora scowled at the sight of the girls.

She then said to the Delinquous," We're getting out of here, because if we want to get rid of her first, we're going to need to do it without them here."

And so in the blink of in eye, the three of them vanished without a trace.

"Th...they're gone!" Kanari cried out in shock as she looked around her surroundings for any sign of them.

"What did Zephora mean when she said...get rid of her?" Renge asked as her eyes fell to the floor.

Kanari shrugged impatiently and continued to try and think of where the three of them fled off to.

"I've got an idea." Renge said solemnly as she took her pen out in a discreet manner.

"Let go of me already!" Chiyo shouted impatiently as she tried prying the hand of the Delinquous off of herself. The three of them were now on the rooftop of the airport and Chiyo was still stuck in the hands of the Delinquous.

"I'm not sure which I'd enjoy more..." Zephora mused as she watched Chiyo try to escape,"...Continuing to watch you struggle to the point of tears or seeing you snapped in half right in front of me."

"You're a little insane, you know that?" Chiyo said between gasps for air.

"At least I'm not a miserable little girl with no place in the world to call home." Zephora pointed out.

Something in Chiyo snapped, and she just stopped struggling for a moment.

"Hey! you two!" They heard a voice shout from the other side of the airport.

"Trying to make hostages of our teammates isn't going to get you anywhere." Literature pointed out," If anything it's just pathetic!"

"Pretty Cure, Geometric Frenzy!" Arithmetic shouted as she launched her attack to the Delinquous feet. The Delinquous wobbled around, losing balance and unintentionally dropped Chiyo in the process. Chiyo slammed against the concrete feeling relieved and a little more in pain after that fall. But she was free from the Delinquous' clutches and right now, that was all that mattered.

The entire that the Delinquous was holding Chiyo it was also holding her pen in it's other hand. Chiyo's head shot straight up as she looked for where the pen was now. Just in that moment, the Delinquous let go of the pen and they all watched the pen dance in the air. Impulsively, Chiyo ran as fast as her slim legs could take her and jumped for her pen. She caught her pen and without a moment to spare, she cried out intensely,

"Pretty Cure, study session!"

The yellow lights flickered all around her and enveloped her, leaving Cure History in the place of Chiyo.

"The subject of generations past with tales that are sure to last, Cure History!" History introduced.

History looked, angrier than ever. Zephora seemed unpleased with Cure History transformed but for now, she wasn't in a position to complain.

"Either way, you don't stand a chance!" Zephora spat as she commanded the Delinquous to retrieve her.

History looked at the Delinquous rushing head on towards her an she simply gave the monstrous vending machine an unforgiving glare as she slowly shook her head. Just as the Delinquous came less than a few centimeters away from her, she gripped a single hand into a fist and punched the Delinquous square in it's center remorselessly. The Delinquous was blasted to the edge of the rooftop and History darted up to the beast, knowing it was far from being defeated.

Her attacks were merciless and relentless, each one inflicting agony that felt it would never end for the Delinquous. But at the same time, her attacks were also a tad reckless. Each attack became more ruthless than the next. And before she knew it, she was thrown against the ground by the Delinquous. Her body shook like a leaf, but she knew damn well she needed to get back up, she needed to destroy this thing. She just _had to._

Cure Literature and Arithmetic tried to help her, but she wouldn't let them.

"Stay out of my way!" History demanded in a venomous tone as she stood back up.

She ran up towards the Delinquous and began to continue her battle with it. Meanwhile, her teammates were watching her fight with great concern.

"She's starting to scare me a bit..." Arithmetic admitted as she watched History soldier on and proceed with her fight. Literature nodded in agreement.

"I must say, your attacks are quite rigorous today..." Zephora admitted as she watched History fight," So what got into you? Was it being trapped by the hands of the Delinquous?"

 _"She's so...ungrateful!"_ History thought to herself as she clenched her teeth, getting knocked down again by the Delinquous.

"That girl had the one thing I didn't. A mom who lived with her and would probably be worried sick upon hearing that her daughter isn't in school today, not knowing where she is. And that woman would probably be devastated upon hearing that her own daughter doesn't want to be with her. And yet...that girl just, she tried running away because she was so blind and, and...foolish!" History shouted, sounding a little choked up.

"Cure...History.." The Cures watched their yellow-themed Cure continue to pummel the Delinquous angrily.

"Cure History! Don't fight with these feelings of jealousy!" Literature shouted, " You're going to lose control and get hurt!"

"I said to stay out of my way!" History barked," And what would you understand? Neither of you have absent parents!"

"Hey, how are you so sure?" Arithmetic then questioned," And, even if we don't fully understand what you're going through, we at least have an idea. We're here for you, so please…you don't have to shoulder all of these problems on your own, you have us by your side!"

History looked at them in shock. Of all things, she didn't expect them to say that. She expected them to call her selfish and self-centered. But they made a good point, to her chagrin.

"For once…you two make a decent decent point." History admitted, seeming visibly calm now.

"So…teammates?" Literature offered.

History shook her head," No. More like…comrades."

"I don't want that girl to go on that plane, realize her mother cared about her all along and regret what she had done." History declared as she stood still for a moment, head lowered facing the ground," But at least now, I don't have to try and save her by myself!"

"That's what you think." Zephora commented flatly as she ordered the Delinquous to swoop down and grab Cure Literature and Arithmetic. History impulsively shot a hand up towards them in hopes of grabbing them out of the Delinquous' clutch, but with no avail.

And it appeared, the girls weren't holding out as well as History did in the Delinquous' grasp. Likely because the Delinquous was actually trying to squeeze the life out of them.

All of a sudden, a rush of bitter nostalgic memories over History as she watched her fellow Cures writhe in pain as she stood there helplessly.

It was reminding her of all those times where she felt so dependent on her absent mother and clung onto to the remaining shreds of hope that she'd come home soon, because all the stress of growing up was getting to be too much for her.

History trembled defenselessly as she looked at the Delinquous. She trembled, then she reminded herself something very important. She was no longer that little girl who could only stand by and hope for the best. She was able to take matters into her own hands. And most importantly, she was no longer alone.

"Let them go..." History uttered quietly.

Zephora didn't seem to be in an accommodating mood and simply commanded the Delinquous to squeeze the girls even harder.

"I said..." History repeated, now shaking with anger," **Let them go!** "

Her fingertips glowed an exciting bright shade of yellow, like she was emitting power from them. Looking down to her hands, History stared incredulously for a few moments, shortly realizing what she had to do.

"Pretty Cure, Legacy Tempest!" History cried out as an hourglass made of words appeared from History's hands and dropped onto the Delinquous. The Delinquous was crushed under the weight of the hourglass and the other Cures urged History to purify it quickly.

"Pretty Cure, Ancient Revolution!" She shouted but for a second, the yellow atmosphere began to fade at a quick rate, causing History to panic and try and focus to maintain the atmosphere so her attack would work. The Delinquous was purified, but it felt like a close call for everyone, especially Cure History.

Once the Delinquous was gone and the little girl's almond colour Inner Scholar returned to the girl, Zephora quickly evacuated with a scowl on her face. History sat on the ground for a few moments, feeling an unbearable pain rise with in her, particular in her core.

"You ok?" Arithmetic asked in concern.

"Never better.." History declared as she took a deep breath, the pain subsiding only a little after that exhalation.

About twenty minutes later, when things settled down, the little girl's mother arrived after the girl finally gave in and let Yukari call her on her phone. Just as Chiyo expected, the woman was in tears upon seeing her daughter safe.

"Miyu, I'm so glad you're safe..." Her mother sobbed as she hugged the little girl tightly.

"Wow, I never thought you'd care this much.." Miyu exhaled.

Miyu's mother looked at her in shock,"Are you out of your mind? No matter how many fights or arguments we get into, you're still my daughter. And I'll love you no matter what."

During the evening of the day after that incident, Chiyo receiving a request to Skype from her mom. She was in the midst of her homework, coming close to finish her part of her group project for Science class. She was really hesitant to answer, but... maybe for once she had something worth listening to to say. Willing to take a chance, Chiyo clicked on them answer button and her mother's face came on the screen. It appeared to be very bright from where she was, like it was morning.

"Hi..." Chiyo greeted, a hint of disinterest detectable in her tone.

"Hi Chiyo, how're you doing?" Yoshino asked her.

"I'm fine, just finishing up some homework." Chiyo responded as she motioned to her bed where she had been lying on to work on her project.

"Oh alright, I'm surprised I managed to catch you at the late hour...but why are you doing homework now?" Yoshino inquired curiously.

Chiyo's loose tongue due to being exhausted caused her to say something she felt like she was going to regret, "I had to work 'til nine tonight so..."

"You have a job?!" Yoshino shouted incredulously in a tone that made Chiyo wonder if she was either impressed or revolted," Where?"

"I work at Super Smoothies at the mall.." Chiyo confessed as she wrapped her hand over her forehead.

"Are you...saving up for something?" Yoshino questioned in a cautious manner.

"Yeah, I'm saving up for a car, since I got my license two months ago.." Chiyo explained, beginning to sound a little tired.

"Wow, that's really great. Does anyone else in your grade have their license yet?" Yoshino asked, a bit of pride creeping up into her voice.

"I think two other kids...otherwise I'm not sure.." Chiyo answered.

"But what about the insurance, how are you going to pay for that?" Yoshino asked.

"I haven't figured that part out yet...I might just have to wait a little longer to actually get my car because of the insurance." Chiyo sighed.

"If you want, I can pay for the insurance." Yoshino offered.

Chiyo disapprovingly said," Mom I couldn't-"

"Chiyo, I'm not offering to help out of pity. I'm offering to help because I couldn't be there to even teach you how to drive or get a job or watch you mature from a shy girl to a beautiful woman." Yoshino explained," You know I love you right? That I would do anything for you?"

"Then how come it took two years to finally see you again?"

Yoshino sighed," This is going to sound idiotic but...my job has been keeping me busy as ever for the last couple of months..."

Chiyo rolled her eyes upon hearing that, but Yoshino continued.

"And, I was worried that my family may have wanted nothing to do with me."

"What would make you even think that?"

"Last year, when I asked you guys to move to America with me and you all declined. I was scared you all stopped wanting to be with me."

"No mom, I feel like in all actuality...it was just us deciding what would be best for us as individuals, after feeling so neglected for so long." Chiyo explained grimly.

Yoshino stared down for a long time before responding," I know I've been a bad parent. And you along with Yukari didn't deserve that. I'm sorry for letting things get so out of hand that we barely had contact within two years. You kids deserved so much better than that."

"Apology accepted." Chiyo said with a small smile on her face.

"I wish I could just go and reconnect with you all-"

"Save it mom, there's no need. Just, try to keep in touch with us, ok?" Chiyo requested," And visit more often, if you can."

"I'll do everything in my power to. I've got a meeting to attend in a half hour ok? Love you Chiyo."

"Love you mom." Chiyo replied before the screen shut off.


	12. Does this mean we're a team?

The chilling winds of November were running down Kanari's spine as she sat on the bench by the school doors. There were only a few minutes left until lunch time was over so she decided she could spare the remainder of her free time just lazing here on this unusually sunny day. She glanced around her surroundings and took note of how many students were left and how many retreated back into the school within the past ten minutes. It was always interesting to watch dozens of kids flood into the school in a jumble during this little timeframe, and it was something Kanari never let go by unnoticed. The kids that usually went in first were the very time-conscious first-years and second-years, with the more relaxed kids of said grades reluctantly following behind shortly afterwards. Then of course, the last group of kids to enter back into the school were the third-years, regardless of them being time-conscious or not. Kanari in truth found it amusing that by this point of the school year, most kids in her grade had given up on trying to head to class early, knowing it wasn't really worth it. Just the other week, Renge showed up only a minute before the bell rang for class with half a bagel in one hand and shoved into her mouth whole in an instant. It was funny what third year did to some people.

Just before Kanari decided to go back into class, she heard someone call for her.

"Kanari!" The familiar voice rang through her ears. The voice sounded like it was coming from the left of her, so she turned to see who was calling her. Walking up to her was none other than Tsubaki along with that girl from that almost hit her in the face with a volleyball a couple of weeks ago. She recalled her name to be Yugure and was evidently a little, but not a lot, more fond of her since that incident since she was sorta cute.

"Hey Tsubaki, heading back to class?" Kanari asked as she examined the girl carefully. This had been one of the first times she actually saw Tsubaki outside of practice and she looked completely different in the school uniform. Instead of wearing the traditional skirt that most of the girls would wear, she instead wore grey slacks with a white short-sleeved dress shirt and a purple tie. She looked really good in the uniform, dapper one could even say. Her long hair was worn down with one chunk of it held up with a hair-tie. It was only now Kanari realized that Tsubaki's hair was actually lime-yellow instead of a normal blonde. She was also wearing her glasses right now, so she was nearly unrecognizable. But then again, how many other super tall blonde girls did Kanari know?

"Yeah, but I needed some pipe-cleaners from the dollar store since me and Hoshina are tutoring some first-years after school today." Tsubaki explained, holding up the dollar-store bag in her right hand.

"We're going to help them make 3-D Bohr diagrams today!" Yugure cheered in her gentle, cheerful tone.

"How noble." Kanari remarked as she stretched out her sleeping legs.

"I guess, oh but you know what? Since we don't have a game until next week, I've been wanting to ask you...do you want to come with the rest of the team and I to the volleyball game tomorrow?" Tsubaki asked.

"Hm, well...I mean I was planning to catch up on all those funny cat videos I've been missing out on because of practice these last few weeks..." Kanari stated as Tsubaki giggled in response.

"Please~?" Tsubaki asked between a few giggles.

"Well, I guess they don't call me the 'Court Jester' for nothing." Kanari remarked, taking notice of Tsubaki's near uncontrollable giggling," I guess I can go, as long as you don't back out."

"I'm not missing it for anything!" Tsubaki proclaimed," Well I'm heading to class, so I'll see you tomorrow after school, ok?"  
"Alright, see ya." Kanari said as the two of them walked back into the school.

After the girls left, Kanari sat there thinking about something that had yet to occur to her.

 _"Hm, she's got a love for Science...she's someone all of us Pretty Cure know and, we all met her on the court.."_ Kanari thought to herself.

"Oh god..." Kanari said in realization with her violet eyes widened. She felt her heart writhe with fear and worry hoping desperately that her theory couldn't be true. There was no way, how would it be her?

During class, all Kanari could think about was the possibility of Tsubaki being the final Cure. Every time she tried to convince herself otherwise, she was ultimately reminded of how those clues traced back to her. As much as it hurt Kanari to think it, it did make sense.

So, as a last resort to prove herself wrong, Kanari decided to hold another meeting with the rest of the group to discuss this theory. With any luck, they would probably dismiss the idea as ridiculous and tell Kanari she wasn't thinking straight.

After school, Kanari assembled the group in their meeting place, with Renge showing up about twenty minutes late as usual. Once Renge arrived with a cup of coffee held in her left hand, the group got down to business and the meeting commenced.

"So Kanari, why did you call this meeting?" Renge asked after she took a giant sip from her small-sized cup of coffee.

"Because I felt like we needed to discuss who we think this final Pretty Cure. I mean, it's not like we as a collective are getting weaker but then...neither is the enemy." Kanari declared," So...I decided that this meeting needed to be held because we should all just bounce ideas off each other regarding who we think this final Cure could be ok? So, with that being said, who wants to start?"

Renge and Chiyo exchanged expressions, neither of them seeming willing to begin. Kanari then glanced over to Renny and Topher, who seemed to both be uninterested in sharing their opinions.

"Nobody wants to start?" Kanari scoffed," Well, ok then. I guess _I'll_ begin then."

"Call me crazy but...today this thought came to me and it just blew my mind. I was like, 'nah it couldn't be!' but then I was like...'maybe it could'. I think our final Cure is none than Tsubaki Kemuri."

Kanari shut her eyes, hoping for some laughter in disbelief or at least any form of doubt from the girls but...nothing was heard. As Kanari hesitantly opened her eyes, she looked at the girls who looked at her in what she interpreted as pity.

"Ha...well~?" Kanari asked.

"Can't believe it took her _this_ long." Chiyo eventually scoffed as she folded her arms in front of her chest smugly.

"Chiyo!" Renge snapped angrily," Um Kanari? We kind of figured that out a while ago..."

"And...you didn't even bother to tell me?" Kanari asked, sounding slightly incredulous.

"Well, we thought you had already figured out on your own, like us..." Renge confessed with a shrug.

"But...then, why haven't you guys done anything about it? Like telling Tsubaki about the Pretty Cure?" Kanari questioned.

"Well, suppose she's not the final Pretty Cure. Now we've unintentionally got her involved in something she has no part in. If she knows, she'll be in danger." Renny explained.

"We've also been waiting for the right moment..." Chiyo stated," We've haven't even had the chance to see whether she's the last Pretty Cure because she happens to be nowhere in the vicinity when an attack happens."

"So what? You think just throwing her into a battle's going to make her a Pretty Cure?" Kanari asked skeptically in a near desolate voice.

Renge responded," Not necessari-"

"She's isn't the last Cure." Kanari declared stubbornly.

Renge looked over to her friend with a look of sympathy in her eyes," Kanari-"

"No! She's just, she's...she's not." Kanari declared with a great sigh trailing afterwards. She had that writhing feeling from earlier return back into her heart, but this time it felt more severe. Renge placed a comforting hand on Kanari's shoulder.

Chiyo however, simply rolled her eyes and said," But didn't you say-?"

"-I only said that because I expected you all to disagree with me!" Kanari interrupted in a huff.

"I don't know what to say Kanari I mean, everything points back to her." Renge explained.

"Well then how about this?" Kanari proposed," Tomorrow, me and Tsubaki are going to the girls away volleyball game after school. There's a chance someone from Temptation might show up. If you guys tag along, we might be able to find out whether or not Tsubaki's our girl."

Chiyo and Renge looked over to each other with concern, both of them seeming quite hesitant too. Finally, Chiyo came to a decision for the both of them.

"What school are they playing at?" Chiyo asked.

The next day, the girls plus Renny and Topher all assembled by the bus stop and waited in silence, all of them seeming quite tense. Kanari appearing to be the most tense of all. She didn't think she was going to be this stressed out about this stupid event but, last night she had a nightmare involving Tsubaki being unable to transform, with a pen in her hand and coming very close to getting ripped to pieces had Kanari not woken up. Maybe the dream was alluding to something good. Or maybe, Kanari's fears were once again manipulating her dreams, either or.

"So...does Nagase High-school have a good team?" Renge casually asked in an awkward voice.

"Their basketball team was alight, but not good enough to beat us..." Kanari responded, just as awkwardly as Renge while scratching the back of her head. She remembered how this morning Renge offered to make a bet like they usually did over things like this. While it did interest her for a moment, it also made her feel uneasy. Betting on herself being a Pretty Cure was fine by her. But, for some reason... betting on someone like Tsubaki just felt wrong. Kanari could tell Renge only had good intentions when offering to make light of the situation but for once, making a bet with her best friend failed to interest her.

Eventually, the bus came and the trio got on. As they all got closer to the school, they could feel there hearts begin to race and race.

But then a thought came to Chiyo," Suppose Temptation doesn't show up?"

"I wouldn't be worried about that." Kanari stated as Renge retrieved a small capsule in the shape of a sphere from her backpack.

"And just what is that?" Chiyo asked as she came a little closer to the capsule to get a better look at it.

"A counterfeit corrupted Inner Scholar." Renge answered," Renny and Topher made it last night. So, hopefully Temptation will take the bait and turn it into a Delinquous."

"But then, isn't that a bit...dangerous? You know, to do something like this just to see if Kemuri's the last Pretty Cure?" Chiyo asked.

"I made sure that when turned into a Delinquous it would be weak but put a somewhat decent fight. Plus, it can only work for ten minutes. Once ten minutes is up, it'll return into it's capsule." Renny explained as he popped his head out of Renge's bag.

"So...is it like a one-time use thing?" Chiyo asked as she held the capsule between her fingers, holding it up to the light.

"It's intended to only be used this one time, but we decided to make it last for two, just in case of anything." Topher responded

The three of them got off the bus about five minutes later. After about ten minutes of walking, they reached the entrance of Nagase High-school. Renge seemed slightly out of breath while her friends seemed rather unaffected. She narrowed her eyes at them and then walked up the stairs leading to the entrance alongside her friends.

"Let's just hope this plan of yours works." Chiyo declared as she handed Renge the counterfeit Inner Scholar.

The Nagase gym was twice the size of Seinori's and it made Kanari all the more thankful that her game with their school's team was a home game. Sounds of volleyballs being hit over and over sounded quietly through the room, but you knew they were there since the girls who were hitting them were all gathered in a circle in the center of the gym. It appeared the bleachers had yet to have been opened up yet and since the bleachers seemed to have taken up half the gym, the court was mostly likely going to be halved. Which didn't necessarily seem like a problem for the girls of Seinori.

"Kanari I'm so glad you could make it!" Tsubaki cried as she ran up to Kanari, clad in uniform but this time donning a long grey pleated skirt instead of the pants from yesterday. Kanari felt her insides contort again in anxiety as she smiled stiffly to Tsubaki.

"Yeah, I brought some of my friends if that's ok..." Kanari said with her eyes downcast.

"It's not a problem!" Tsubaki stated as she waved a hand in dismissal before realizing Kanari was staring at her skirt," Weird right? I thought it would be nice to switch things up a bit, but...this skirt sorta makes me feel like some sort of delinquent."

"No, it's not weird! I think it looks...awesome.." Kanari complimented in shy tone.

"You really think so?" Tsubaki beamed," Anyways, let's go get our seats!"

The girls went to go get their seats that were very close to the floor and as they settled themselves into their seats, the girls took notice of how excited Tsubaki seemed for this game.

"Ooh, Hanako good luck!" Tsubaki cheered as she ran up to one of the girls from the volleyball team.

"Man, the match hasn't even started and I'm already super nervous." Kanari groaned to herself with a sigh as she watched Tsubaki talk to the girl from the team.

Renge put a comforting hand on her best friend's shoulder," Try to relax, ok?"

"Easier said than done." Kanari responded as Tsubaki returned to the bleachers.

The game began shortly after and the gym fell silent. Kanari could tell how tense the girls from their school were just by looking at them and while it didn't seem like a good sign, Kanari honestly couldn't have been bothered to care.

The team to score the first point was the home team and the girls from Seinori managed to pull themselves together upon being scored on. As if the notion was a wake-up call for them. They got their head in the game and now the match was getting good. Kanari still didn't care about the match too much though, as her head was rested on her first, her eyes beginning to feel heavy-lidded. But Renge and Tsubaki, who just happened to be on either side of her, seemed incredibly psyched out when watching the match. Both of them cheering wildly when Seinori scored a point.

"This is sooo boring..." Kanari said under her breath.

"Then how about we spice things up around here?" A familiar voice whispered into her ear. Kanari spun her head around and found no one near her. She then saw Rishi and Jika sitting on top of the scoreboard.

"Well, guess we're not going to have to use that counterfeit Inner Scholar." Kanari shrugged as she took her pen out in a discreet manner.

"Kanari, is there something wrong?" Tsubaki asked as she noticed Kanari's growing distress.

"Not yet." Kanari responded as she slowly stood up.

"So, um...anytime now." Jika prompted awkwardly as she rocked back and forth while seated.

Rishi, now lying down, rolled his eyes and with a smirk, he snapped his fingers and the gymnasium was warped into this odd surreal looking terrain, with dark green walls that looked liked they melting and floors that felt like quicksand.

"What in the hell is going on?" One girl asked looking upon her hands as if she was hallucinating something horrifying happening to them.

"What _is_ going on?" Chiyo asked calmly, seeming to be for the most part, unaffected by whatever was polluting the gymnasium.

"Everybody's seeing things, they got to get out here!" Renge shouted as she began to try and lead people out of the gym.

Everyone else thankfully only suffered from mild hallucinations and so they were at least able to exit the gym. Thankfully, everyone, minus Tsubaki, was gone and now the girls could transform; Tsubaki being too trapped in these delusions to even see what was going on. It pained Kanari to see her like this but...she couldn't do anything about her now. She wasn't even sure what she could do.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" The girls cried as a swarm of red, blue and yellow lights appeared into the room.

"The subject of writing and awe-striking empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic introduced.

"The subject of generations past with tales that are sure to last, Cure History!" History introduced.

"Making learning fun, together as one, we are...Academia Pretty Cure!" The Cures announced in unison.

"Guys, stay over at the bleachers, or...whatever's left of the bleachers.." Literature instructed to Renny and Topher.

"So...they're all gone?" Jika asked as examined the room for any remaining civilians.

"Almost it would appear, but.." Rishi said as his eyes fell to the helpless, delusional Tsubaki,"...She won't be a problem for us."

"Got it." Jika nodded attentively as she held her hands up and made a circle around herself with them, as if creating a barrier. Which was exactly what she did except, this barrier was outside and from outside of the barrier, time was stopped.

"And now the fun begins..." Rishi snickered as he held out an corrupted Inner Scholar and fused it with a volleyball.

"Delinquous!" The monstrous volleyball bellowed.

"I guess the moment of truth is a few seconds away.." History shrugged as she darted up to the Delinquous and punched in square in the face, sending it flying backwards.

"Tsubaki, snap out it~" Arithmetic pleaded in a somewhat nagging tone as she pushed Tsubaki lightly. Topher was perched by her side and watched the girl suffer from these delusions she was faced with.

"None of those visions are real, just wake up!" Topher beckoned. Renny watched with concern as Arithmetic continued to shake Tsubaki but then, something caught his eye from the corner of the very small stage of the right side of the gym. Feeling like he had to see what it was, he went by unnoticed by Kanari and Topher and dove over to see if someone was there.

"Pretty Cure, Expressive Meltdown!" Literature and History shouted in unison with a synchronized kick dropping down on the Delinquous, followed by a red and yellow tornado of three-dimensional words.

Arithmetic, growing rather frustrated with herself for being unable to wake Tsubaki up, concentrated on trying to find a way to wake Tsubaki without using force.

"Tsubaki Kemuri, listen to my voice..." Arithmetic drew out in a very slow, soothing tone,"...Do you hear me?"

"I hear you." Tsubaki murmured in a tone coherent enough for Arithmetic.

"Good, now...at the count of three, you will snap out from these delusions and return to normal alright?" Arithmetic instructed with the same slow, relaxing tone," Do you understand?"

Tsubaki nodded very slowly, her blue eyes looking very entranced.

"Ok, then by the count of three. One...two..."

"...Three." Arithmetic finished, her voice raising only slightly.

Arithmetic's idea actually worked and Tsubaki returned to normal in an instant.

"What...what in the world is going on?" Tsubaki asked as she looked at her hands in confusion.

"Well, I guess the moment of truth is now.." Arithmetic said as she returned to the battle with her fellow Cures.

"Moment of...what?" Tsubaki asked incredulous as she remained seated, now taking in her surroundings in shock," What happened to the gym?"

Cure Literature blasted a kick into the Delinquous side and sent it over to Arithmetic, who then used Geometric Frenzy on it. And while Arithmetic was confident her attack was going to do some seriously harm to it, the Delinquous was actually less damaged than she hoped. It simply shook off her attack and lunged for her, causing her to trip. But, when it came an inch away from her, Arithmetic heard Cure History shout something.

"Pretty Cure, Legacy Tempest!" History cried, smacking the Delinquous away from Arithmetic and into the bleachers.

"You alright?" History asked as she offered a hand to Arithmetic.

"Yeah, I guess.." Arithmetic assured, sounding a tad dismal as she stood up by herself.

The Cures fought and fought tirelessly but little did they know, Tsubaki wasn't the only civilian watching them.

"What are those girls doing?" Yugure asked from the somehow unaffected, fluorescent little corner beside the steps leading to the school stage. Renny then flew up to her, mouth agape as he found her standing quietly spectating the battle.

"What are you doing here? Why didn't you leave with the others?" Renny questioned.

"How are you talking right now?!" Yugure asked as she held her hands in front of herself in fear, looking away from Renny.

Any kind of excuse wouldn't have been plausible right now, Yugure seeming to afraid to believe anything Renny had to say.

"You know what's going on over there don't you?" Yugure asked in a gentle voice, though you still hear a little bit of fear in her tone.

Renny looked over to the battle and nodded hesitantly as he watched the girls get depleted of their energy. The girls were evidently still able to put up a good fight, but Renny could tell their attacks weren't getting any stronger right now.

"Can I do something...to help them?" Yugure asked bashfully with her eyes downcast.

Renny spun around and looked at her with initial disbelief, and then in surprise as if he had been bestowed with an epiphany. He nodded vigorously.

Arithmetic rubbed her sore shoulder that became that way due to being thrown into the edge of the stage by the Delinquous. She looked over to Tsubaki who thankfully didn't have a reoccurrence of that trance, but still seemed really clueless. Maybe she wasn't who they thought she was, hopefully.

"Are you feeling perhaps a little...heroic and full of passion by any chance?" Literature asked curiously to Tsubaki.

Tsubaki gave her a confused look and shook her head a single time," No, any reason why?"

"Nope.." Literature forced herself to say, cringing upon realizing this wasn't getting anywhere. At this rate, they may never awaken their last Pretty Cure!

The Delinquous then bounced off the wall on the far side of the gym and came flying towards Cure History.

In a split second, knowing that Cure History wouldn't have been able to defend herself because she still needed to recharge, Literature took action.

"Pretty Cure, Assassinating Diamante!" Literature cried as she aimed her pale red diamond of an attack towards History.

History then shouted,"Just what to you think you're-?"

She stopped her sentence in it's tracks upon realizing Literature was using the attack as a giant shield to enclose her in. The yellow-clad Cure watched as the Delinquous flew towards the shield and bounce off from it, breaking it in the process.

But, the ball kept bouncing and once it bounced back from the far wall, it came heading towards it's next target, Tsubaki.

"Tsubaki!" The three Cures cried in unison, as Tsubaki's pupils shrunk in fear as she watched the ball come flying at her at a break-neck pace.

"Pretty Cure, Atomic Pressure!"

A biotic green sphere that seemed to be overflowing with boundless energy appeared from nowhere and knocked the Delinquous back to the other side of the gym.

Standing in front of a awestruck Tsubaki was a girl with very lime green poofy hair gather in twin-tails held up with little spheres that resembled Bohr models with a few loose strands forming a cork screws on either side of her face. Her dress was rather odd being sleeveless with two atoms around where the sleeves would've been on either side. The dress itself was many shades of light green with increments on it's side and a design of DNA strands on the end of it. She wore a dual-shaded pair of green boots that reached up to her thighs and had green arm warmers on. Her aqua-blue eyes dazzled with determination as she glowered to the Delinquous.

"What the hell-?!" Rishi managed to shout as he nearly fell off the scoreboard in shock.

"Temptasia isn't going to like this..." Jika quaked her she hugged herself.

"Well...I guess we, found our last Cure." Literature commented, receiving a pair of attentive nods from Arithmetic and History in return.

"You, doer of evil! You will be exterminated right this instant!" The girl declared.

"Great, another preacher." Arithmetic groaned as she rolled her eyes.

"Pretty Cure-ah!" The green girl screamed as the Delinquous came at her. She ducked out of instinct and shut her eyes, opening only one of them when she heard the ball bounce away weakly against the wall behind her.

"And just who do you think you are?" Rishi shouted to her flatly from the top of the scoreboard.

"I am..." The girl began, rising up slowly with her hands pressed against her chest.

"The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!" She introduced as she struck a pose.

" I'll use all this boundless generated power within me to stop your team and monster right this instant!" Cure Science declared with steadfast determination embedded in her voice as she pointed her index finger in Rishi and Jika's direction.

"So scared," Rishi commented sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

"You just watch!" Science demanded as a flicker of what appeared to be green static volt out from her fingertips.

"Pretty Cure! Covalent Antidote!" Science shouted as the atmosphere around them all gleamed into a pale, light green. The Delinquous was entrapped within a pair of intersecting rings and looking very confused, it failed to notice Cure Science dashing straight up towards it with a beam of green light bursting out through her hands.

The Delinquous was cleansed and it's Inner Scholar went off in search of it's owner.

"Rishi, they...th-they're all together now! How are we supposed to tell Temptasia this?" Jika fretted, her voice lowering to a whisper on that last question.

"Very sternly. As if this is all going to work in our favour." Rishi answered as he watched his warped gymnasium return to normal with an unreadable look in his eye while Jika disappeared, himself doing so moments after.

"Hey, over here!" Cure Literature cried as she and the other Cures ran up to Science.

Cure Science observed the girls very carefully, quickly figuring out that they were most likely her teammates because of the similar outfits.

"You were phenomenal out there!" Arithmetic beamed, Cure Science reddening a little at the compliment.

"I..thank you, but...does this mean, we're a team?" Cure Science asked.

The girls nodded in response and History asked her," So, who are you exactly? Do you go to Seinori?"

Just before she could respond, she heard what sounded like large groups of people entering the gym. Her guess was right and people started flooding in within seconds.

So, without thinking, Science just ran away, causing her fellow Cures to call after her.

"Does this mean you're joining our team?" Literature called out, her hands cupped around her mouth.

"I'll have to think about it!" Science responded, shouting back to Literature as she continued to run away.

"But..! We don't know who you are..." Arithmetic trailed off, watching as Science disappeared into the distance.

"Do you guys have any idea who she might be?" History asked Renny and Topher who flew up towards the girls. Topher simply shook his head, as did Renny, but he seemed a little more tense. Though History failed to pick up on this.

"We need to find out who she is.." Literature declared as the girls ran off into a secluded area near the gym to de-transform.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" History questioned as she turned back into Chiyo.

"Just look for a girl carrying a green fountain pen like ours." Kanari shrugged as she leaned back against the wall.

"That is just-! Actually, that's a really good plan." Chiyo admitted with a nod of her head.

"Well then, I guess we'll just have to do that tomorrow! Let's all meet by my locker at lunch, alright?" Renge proposed. Her fellow teammates nodded in approval.

Yugure awoke from her double-sized bed adorned with lacy purple sheets that had a crescent moon design decorating them. Though not feeling particularly energized, she felt rather alert, like it would be impossible for her to fall back asleep for the morning. Hesitantly, she checked her clock beside her bed to see what time it was. She groaned, feeling the urge to toss her clock outside her window. Which was something she told herself she'd never do again. It was five twenty-six and not a single sign of a sunrise highlighting the night sky. Maybe in twenty minutes or so, the sky would progress and look more fitting for a sunrise. She closed the curtain beside her bed and felt something jabbing against her palm as she placed it on her pillow. Retrieving her hand back, she checked to see what had been underneath her hand. She realized it was one of her ear-buds and so, she felt around her bed for her phone, which happened to be right beside her.

"Not again..." Yugure sighed, her face lifting into a half-smile as she placed her phone on her side table. She couldn't believe how many times she had listened to music right before she went to bed and forgot to put her phone back on the side-table. At least she didn't toss and turn.

As Yugure placed her phone beside her on the side-table, she caught a faint glimmer of something from the corner of her eye.

She looked to see what it was, realizing it was her pen from yesterday. That was right, Yugure had transformed. Into a magical girl. With giant neon green hair. She groaned again upon remembering the events of yesterday. As she reflected upon yesterday, she reached for her comb on her side table and began to brush her violet hair into her signature asymmetrical style. At least, she liked to think it was her signature. It was either that, or her natural violet hair.

Yugure could feel her body craving sleep, barely functioning properly as she combed her hair. But her mind was wide awake. There was unfortunately, no more sleeping now. Her blue eyes were fighting against her heavy lids as she brushed, reminiscing over yesterday.

Those girls seemed very nice, real friendly girls. Yugure was in truth so psyched to be on a team with them but...she let her worries get the best of her. She was nervous about revealing herself to them, in fear of the girls being disappointment upon discovering her identity. It felt she could been anyone on planet Earth, but the girls wouldn't have been satisfied unless she was her friend Tsubaki. After all, they did drag her onto the battlefield in hopes of her transforming. But, maybe they were in truth really glad that she arrived and saved the day. Yeah, that was most likely it. But, why did she did not think of that when she was met with them?

She sighed and pressed her hand against her forehead in frustration, messing her bangs up a little bit. Yugure then decided she was just going to have to confront them at school and reveal herself to them. That way they could finally be unified as a team.

She remembered vividly what happened yesterday right after she transformed and before she attacked the Delinquous.

 _"I...what happened?" Yugure questioned as she looked down to herself, examining her new dress and her hair shortly after._

 _"You're a Pretty Cure!" Renny exclaimed," You're an academic legendary warrior of justice! And you're the final Cure to complete our team!"_

 _"So...those girls, we're...teammates?" Yugure asked as she looked over to the Cures fighting against the Delinquous._

 _"Yeah! Now go, they need you!" Renny informed impatiently._

 _"Ok but...promise me this. Do not, under any circumstances tell anyone about this...alter ego of mine." Yugure instructed._

 _"Your secret's safe with me!" Renny responded._

 _"Not even those girls." Yugure added._

 _"Wait...what? Why not? They're your teammates." Renny pointed out._

 _"I know but, I-I just...I can't have them knowing, absolutely not! So please, no telling any of those girls about this, got it?"_

 _"But-!"_

 _"Got it?"_

 _Renny drew out a long sigh," Got it."_

"I'm so stupid~!" Yugure whined as she flung one of the throw pillows on her bed to the other side of her room," I need to find those girls today."

Yugure then decided to go back to sleep for about twenty minutes and take a shower after that. Then she'd be all energized and ready for school.

But, her twenty-minute slumber unfortunately lasted longer than she had aimed for. Much longer than she aimed for.

"I'm gonna be late!" Yugure screamed as she looked at her clock. It was eight-twenty now, and that meant she had ten minutes to get to school. A minute later she had managed to jump out from her bed, and recklessly throw on her uniform with her tie untied and her shirt untucked, along with her blazer unbuttoned. She jumped from the staircase with only five steps left that she needed to walk down and dove down for her bag in split second. Thankfully for her, the bag was near the door and so after retrieving her bag, she whipped out her keys and locked the door. Running madly down the street, she passed many people and felt herself losing steam quickly, but she kept going, knowing she literally had no time to spare. It was times like this where she felt grateful for living down the street from school but it made her unfortunately more lenient about sleeping in. With only four minutes to spare, she reached the front of the school, greeted by at least two or three kids.

She said hi quickly back to then as she ran, unsure of whether or not the students she addressed her heard reply. She skidded to a stop as she reached her classroom and placed her bag underneath her chair.

Noticing the teacher had yet to arrive in class, she stealthily took out her lunch bag and found what appeared to be her breakfast her mom had made for her too.

 _"Mom, bless your soul!"_ She thought to herself as she wolfed down her breakfast.

"Hey Yugure, great game yesterday!" Her desk neighbour, who doubled as one of her close friends beamed. His light brown was cut into a fade style and he sported thick-rimmed glasses over his grey eyes. His uniform was unbuttoned like Yugure's but unlike the former, it appeared his was intentionally undone.

"Thanks Satoshi!" Yugure responded after gulping down her breakfast.

Satoshi chuckled a little upon realizing Yugure just ate her entire breakfast in front of him.

"I'll never understand how your able to luck out and get to eat breakfast before class starts every time you come late." Satoshi mused.

" I'm not late. I'm on time." Yugure corrected as she took a generous sip from her water bottle,"Are you coming to the next game?"

"Not too sure, Shizuka has her basketball game the same day and I missed out on her last match..." Satoshi explained as the teacher walked in.

"Your loss~" Yugure responded as she stuck her tongue out to him. He rolled his eyes and class began.

After morning classes were over, Yugure set out to find the girls during lunch. She figured that they'd most likely be looking for her as well, so at least it'd make things easier for her. Just before she went out of her classroom, a classmate called her over.

"Yugure, do you wanna eat with us?" A girl with very dark red hair asked her as she waved to Yugure.

"Sorry Hanako, I'm meeting with somebody today!" Yugure responded as she rushed out of the classroom.

Yugure walked out to the school's front yard, trying to find the girls but at the same time, trying to seem inconspicuous. She peered over to a few groups that consisted of three girls, but none of them seemed to be to intent on finding Cure Science. What made things worse was that there were a lot of people outside today, enjoying the unusually warm day and they were all assembled in groups laying the grass of the school yard.

"I barely remember what the girls looked like too." Yugure groaned to herself as she leaned her back against a tree.

"This isn't going to work!" Yugure heard a mildly familiar voice whine.

"Could that be...?" Yugure trailed as she looked from behind the tree to see where the voice came from.

"We've barely even started." Chiyo reasoned in a stern condescending voice as she glowered to Kanari," You were the one who suggested to look for a girl with the pen."

"Yeah, but I didn't think it was going to be this hard with the entire student body outside!" Kanari exasperated.

Renge chimed in to Chiyo and Kanari's argument after trying to spot out Cure Science.

"Hyperbole." She said to Kanari," And yes, while it may be a bit of a drawback with so many people outside, we can't let this get the best of us. Our team is this close to being complete, we can't give up so soon."

"What if she doesn't go here?" Topher pointed out from inside Renge's bag.

"Well, if she doesn't go here, then chances are she goes to Nagase. And if that's the case, then that means we're just going to have to search there if we can't find her here." Renge explained as she continued to search for the last Pretty Cure while silently urging Kanari and Chiyo to do the same.

"Isn't there an easier way to do this though?" Kanari asked as she dropped down onto the grass.

"Hm, I've been meaning to ask you two..." Chiyo began slowly,"...How did you two find me during our last battle?"

"Find you...?" Renge and Kanari repeated in unison.

"Well, we conjured out our fountain pens and asked them to take us to you." Renge explained, taking note of how skeptic Chiyo seemed of this explanation.

"That was it?" Chiyo asked," Well, what if we try do that now?"

Topher shook his head as he popped from Renge's bag," Doubt it. The pen can't transport you to another Pretty Cure."

"Say what?" Kanari asked in confusion while the girls all looked at Topher seeming very puzzled.

"If I'm not mistaken, Chiyo had yet to transform when you guys were transported to her right?" Topher questioned.

"Yeah..." Renge answered slowly, trying to figure what this was getting to.

"The pens can locate somebody at any time, with a catch. But they can't be located when in use." Topher explained.

"So...had Chiyo have been transformed, we wouldn't have been able to find her?" Renge asked.

"Correct." Topher responded briefly with a single nod.

"Well, I doubt Cure Science is transformed right now, so I don't see why we can't try and transport to her." Kanari commented.

"There's the catch; You can transport yourself to anybody under the condition that you know who they are, no alter ego. Their actual self." Topher furthered explained as Kanari folded her arms in frustration.

"Well, that's just stupid." She spat as she stood up slowly.

"If anything it should be the other way around." Chiyo declared, appearing to lose interest in this search.

"Regardless, we still need to at least try and find her." Renge pointed out, receiving a pair of sighs from Chiyo and Kanari as they continued to look for her.

"I bet she has she has green hair." Kanari muttered in a tone coherent enough for Chiyo to hear as they continued their search.

"What?" Chiyo questioned sounding quite baffled.

"If she has green hair, then chances are she could be Cure Science," Kanari explained, though it seemed Chiyo wasn't following.

"That doesn't much sense. None of us have hair that match our theme colour, so why would that apply to her?" Chiyo asked.

"Well, it'd be more likely that she has green hair than any other colour." Kanari responded," It's a magical girl thing ok?"

"Green hair isn't even a natural hair colour!" Chiyo reasoned, raising her voice in irritation.

"Tsubaki has green hair!" Kanari countered as she glared over to Chiyo, who was already staring her down.

Chiyo shouted,"No she doesn-!"

"Excuse me?" Yugure said in a bashful manner as she walked over to the girls.

"Hey Hoshina..." Kanari greeted awkwardly, not realizing she had been very close to being strangled by Chiyo, whose hands were inches away from Kanari's neck,"...Do you need anything?"

Yugure looked over to the girls, a mixture of relief and fear emerging from within her.

 _"I can't believe they were this easy to find! I'm so glad I overheard their conversation!"_ Yugure thought to herself, _"But now..."_

"Um...no." Yugure said in defeat as she hung her head," Just wondering if you came to yesterday's game..."

"Yeah, we were all there." Kanari answered as she pushed Chiyo's hands away from her," You're really good at spiking, I didn't realize you were the best spiker on your team!"

"Heh, thanks..." Yugure said awkwardly as she unwillingly inched away from the girls," Well I guess I'll just see you later..."

Yugure turned around and walked away from them, feeling so defeated that she was too regretful to look back. Once the girls were out of earshot, Yugure drew out a rather huge sigh. She walked all the way to the far corner of the school building.

"Why? Why did I let that happen again?" Yugure asked herself in an angry whisper," How could I let that happen again?"

"Why did I let this happen again?" Yugure heard someone ask from nearby.

"That was exactly what I was thinking!" Yugure commented, still whispering. Now curious, she looked over from the corner of the school and found Satoshi looking down desolately at a graded Science test with a mark of twenty-six percent.

"Satoshi?" Yugure whispered quietly as she watched Satoshi sulk while looking at his paper.

"So, Jika. You said you and Rishi have good news awaiting me." Temptasia declared in a somewhat uninterested tone as she rest her head on her fist.

"Yes, absolutely!" Jika sputtered out, looking over to the ever-so nonchalant Rishi for guidance. He motioned her to deliver the news to Temptasia.

"We have discovered the final Pretty Cure!" Jika boasted, unsure of what to expect from Temptasia as a reaction.

"I'm sorry? You...what?" Temptasia inquired, her patience wearing thin.

"We, um, we...encountered the last Pretty Cure, the Pretty Cure of Science." Jika explained, trying to sound jubilant as if she was delivering good news.

"And just how is that good for us Jika?" Temptasia questioned in a dark tone as she momentarily glanced over to Rishi.

"Um, well...y-you know...because..." Jika stammered.

"There won't be anymore showing up after this one." Rishi pointed out," Not to mention they're weaker as a collective."

"They are?" Temptasia asked curiously.

"They can't synch their attacks together and their too dependent on one Cure for a certain task every time they fight." Rishi explained in an indifferent tone," So adding another Cure into the mix is actually an advantage for us."

Temptasia seemed a little unsure of Rishi initially, but she put the topic to rest.

"Well, it appears you have another heist on your hands." Temptasia stated as she conjured up a screen displaying a forlorn Satoshi with his test paper," Don't disappoint me."

Rishi vanished moments after to the scene and just when Jika was about to follow after him, Temptasia stopped her from doing so.

"You've done enough for now." Temptasia declared.

"Um, Satoshi? Is everything alright?" Yugure asked with concern as she knelt down to Satoshi.

"Oh, hey Yugure..." Satoshi greeted absently as he looked over to her.

Rishi watched the two awkwardly engage in conversation, both parties seeming quite tense for their own reasons. It was both fun and painful to watch for him but of course, all good things had to come to an end. He extracted out Satoshi's Inner Scholar and he fused it with a nearby backpack.

"Delinquous!" The monsterfied back-pack roared.

"Great, a Delinquous shows up and we didn't even find Cure Science!" Kanari groaned as she watched the Delinquous ravage through the school yard.

"Take it easy, this could work in our favour..." Renge stated," If this battle will be anything like yesterday's, Cure Science will show up in the nick of time."

"In the meanwhile..." Chiyo said as she withdrew her Fountain pen of knowledge slowly while leading the girls to a more private area.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" The trio called out in unison.

"The subject of writing and awe-striking empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic introduced.

"The subject of generations past with tales that are sure to last, Cure History!" History introduced.

"Making learning fun, together as one, we are...Academia Pretty Cure!" The Cures announced in unison.

"What happened to the girl from last time?" Rishi crooned to the Cures, sitting cross-legged in the single tree present in the school yard.

"She's on her way!" Arithmetic shouted as she landed a kick into the Delinquous' mid-section. The Delinquous fell back into a bench and History darted over towards it to land a kick into it, but Arithmetic beat her to it.

"I'm not finished with it yet." Arithmetic declared as she weakly threw over to History," Now you can have it."

The Delinquous opened up the flap of it's body and tried to suck in Cure History. She planted her feet onto the ground and stood firmly as she shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Archaic Blaze!"

She set fire to the Delinquous temporarily and it fell backwards defenselessly. Literature then dashed up to the Delinquous and attempted to encase it with her Assassinating Diamante attack. But to her surprise, the Delinquous didn't stay still for much longer and instead began to run after her, still on fire.

"It's gaining up on me, I don't have enough time to attack like this!" Literature grimaced as she ran for her life.

"Legacy Tempest!" History shouted, entrapping the Delinquous inside an hourglass.

"I could've done that too..." Arithmetic muttered under her breath as Literature looked to History in relief.

Meanwhile, Yugure was looking over the battle from the corner of the school in fear. Everyone evacuated except for her, again. Her teammates were fighting without her and while they seemed to be doing alright for the most part, Yugure was still feeling amazingly guilty for not doing her part in helping.

"I have to help! Now's my chance!" Yugure whispered to herself in peril, feeling her heart race as she watched the girls fight against the Delinquous.

"It doesn't seem like your last Cure is coming anytime soon..." Rishi called out to the girls with a smirk as he watched their battle.

"We already told you, she's on her way!" Literature barked as she used her Poetic Jurisdiction attack on the Delinquous.

"Do you even know who she is?" Rishi questioned with a scoff.

"Does it matter?" Arithmetic asked as she and History threw punches to the Delinquous.

"It should." Rishi responded carelessly as he laid down, retrieving a pack of cigarettes from his pockets.

As Renny and Topher watched the fight, Renny could feel his insides contort from within him. He was the only one in the group who knew Cure Science's identity and he wasn't telling them! The girls did deserve to know, they really did, but...she told him not to tell! But why, why not let the girls know? Why not be properly be assembled as a team? What was the point of keeping this as a huge secret, just why?

The Delinquous threw History to the other side of the school yard and then swung Arithmetic up onto the school roof. Although it was kinda nice to see the view from here, Arithmetic felt sore from being dropped onto the rooftop. Not to mention, the idea of jumping back down to the battleground was sort of terrifying for her.

Literature fought back against the Delinquous by herself in the meanwhile as her fellow Cures returned to battleground. But, one missed punch ended up having her arm gripped by the Delinquous and have her pelted into a tree on the other side of the school yard.

"That's it! I'm going!" Yugure shouted impatiently as she walked onto the battlefield.

"This needs to stop right now!" Yugure cried as she walked onto the center of the field, with all eyes on her.

"Hoshina, you need to leave! This place isn't fit for you!" Arithmetic yelled from the school rooftop.

"Isn't fit for me?" Yugure repeated with a slight smirk as she took out her green Fountain pen of knowledge. All the girls looked at her in shock as she held out the pen.

Yugure could feel all the adrenaline rushing through her veins and courageously shouted out,

"Pretty Cure, study session!"

Yugure was surrounded by very green lights fluttering all around her, dancing with her hair and making it longer and turned neon green. Her hair also became a lot poofier and was parted into two pigtails held up by Bohr models. Her regular school uniform began to shimmer white and was replaced with a green strapless dress. She twirled around and held her hands in front of her face, a pair of green arm warmers appearing on her wrists shortly after. With a snap of her fingers, she pointed down to her strapless dress and pair of atoms appeared around her shoulders. She then clicked her heels together and a pair of lime and neon green boots that reached her thighs appeared. Then finally, she placed her hands over her chest and a striped green ribbon appeared on her chest.

She opened her now aqua-blue eyes and struck a pose.

"The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!" She announced.

All the Cures looked at her, mouths agape as they examined their final Pretty Cure. Renny felt a wave of relief come over him, now not having to worry about holding this stupid secret. Arithmetic and History double-blinked while Literature appeared to be very impressed.

"That doesn't make sense...but ok." Arithmetic decided, receiving a smack on the back of her head from History moments after.

"What? She has violet hair, this isn't how this is supposed to work." Arithmetic explained.

"Would you stop with that stupid hair colour thing?" History demanded with her teeth gritted.

"I won't let you defeat us!" Science declared as she struck a finger to the Delinquous," And you had no right to do whatever you did to Satoshi!"

"Smart girl." Rishi commented quietly with a single nod of approval," But he failed a Science test, an easy one at that. He had it coming to him."

"What makes you think it was so easy?" Cure Science questioned as she kicked the Delinquous up into the air.

Rishi conjured up Satoshi's test into his hands," Let's see. For this multiple choice, he put Sulfur's atomic number as two. Not to mention he drew a Lewis model when this question asked for a Bohr model. And don't even get me started on his long answer questions.."

"Ugh, ok! He doesn't meet your stupid standards! But Satoshi's no quitter..." Science declared as her fingertips flickered a pale green.

"I know he's been studying super hard this entire time, with me and his girlfriend Shizuka helping him, and for this to have happened...I know it probably devastated him."Science said with her eyes downcast.

"But you know? It's perfectly fine if he failed some stupid test! After all, it's our failures that shape us and that we learn from, not our successes!" Science cried as she threw the Delinquous into the tree.

The Delinquous appeared to be down for the count and so, Cure Science stood in front of it and took a deep breath.

"Pretty Cure, Covalent Antidote!" Science cried out, the atmosphere turning pale green. The Delinquous was purified and Rishi disappeared shortly after.

"So, Cure Science you, you're..." Literature trailed off as the three of them ran to her.

"Yeah, I'm..." Science took a deep breath and de-transformed," Yugure Hoshina, third year, class 3-8."

"It's great to finally meet you Yugure..." Literature greeted, now transformed back into Renge," I'm Renge Kotori."

"Kanari Mizukage."

"Chiyo Sakurami."

"It's really great to meet all of you. But, what is this whole Pretty Cure thing about? Just what are we protecting? And..." Yugure trailed off," What exactly are we up against?"

"We'll tell you the whole story at our headquarters after school, if you can make it." Kanari responded, with a glare from Renge.

"That's what we're calling my bedroom now?" She asked flatly.

"May as well." Kanari shrugged as she glanced over to Yugure.

"I'm really sorry I didn't tell you guys my identity at first, I was nervous you guys weren't going to be very accepting of me..." Yugure admitted.

The girls looked at her appearing very, very confused.

"Because I wasn't Tsubaki." Yugure explained.

"Wow, I guess we were all so sure of the Pretty Cure of Science being Tsubaki that, we kinda didn't expect her to be anybody else..." Renge said sheepishly," But, whatever. The past is in the past. I hope you become part of our team though, we'd all be so glad to have you on our team!"

Yugure beamed with a smile," Yeah!"

"So, they're all assembled now huh?" The voice from the mirror asked Temptasia who was currently pouting with her hands folded against her chest.

"I guess." Temptasia mumbled as she looked down to the floor with her mauve eyes.

"How could you let this happen?!" The voice shrieked.

"Don't ask me stupid questions like that!" Temptasia shouted back, clamping the mirror between her two hands as if she was ready to break it.

"You break this confinement and things will get a whole lot worse for you." The voice threatened," You couldn't break it anyways. You don't have the power to."

Temptasia's cheeks tinted red as she tried to twist the mirror around, hoping to cause at least some sort of damage to it. Eventually, after working herself up so much, she lost steam and dropped the mirror onto the floor, the object remaining unscathed.

"Not even close."


	13. She's always right there when I need her

"Out of the way!" Kanari clamored as she dashed between random people who were being an obstacle for her. She was impressed that she managed not to collide with anyone this far into her 'little run'. What was supposed to be her light, relaxing little walk to school turned into an uncomfortably, vigorous sprint to the school thanks to her stupid alarm clock finally deciding to give out on her the one day she really needed it. And she missed out on all the cloudiness too! Not to say sunshine was a bad thing, it was just clouds were more interesting to Kanari. Usually, a walk to school was suppose to take an hour or so, and trying to turn that hour-walk into a twenty minute was just killing Kanari. Sure, her stamina was a little enhanced thanks to being on the basketball team, but it wasn't like she had an average level of stamina to begin with.

But, she had to at least try and get to school on time, she couldn't let all this pointless running go to waste. So, she made one last push and went full-throttle, running as fast as she could. Only to bump into somebody.

"Ow!" The two involved in the collision shouted together. Both of them were knocked onto the pavement, Kanari suffering from a sore back and rubbing the back of her head before checking to see if the person she collided with was ok.

"Oh my goodness, Kanari?" The girl she bumped into asked. She was slender and quite pretty with wavy golden brown hair that were dyed pale blond at the ends. She almost had very large and pretty green eyes that dazzled upon looking at Kanari.

Kanari double-blinked in disbelief upon looking at the girl she collided with.

"No way, Iori?" Kanari asked incredulously as she quickly stood up.

"It's been so long, I don't think I've seen you since middle school!" Iori remarked as she went over to hug Kanari, who shamelessly blushed during the hug," You look so...different."

"Yeah, I guess I do, since the last time you saw me at least.." Kanari shrugged carelessly," So, what are you doing here? You still go to Nakazawa right?"

"Yeah, class doesn't start until nine usually and I just wanted to look at some dresses." Iori explained as she glanced over to the displayed she was originally looking at.

"Dresses?" Kanari repeated in confusion," For wha-?"

Kanari looked over to the display with Iori and realized what she meant by dresses.

"Oh, Formal dresses..." Kanari commented sheepishly as she looked at the dress on display. It was like a ball gown and it was pink and purple with hints of blue appearing on it. It looked nice, but something told Kanari that must've been pricey with how extravagant it appeared.

"You know, after next month, the year's going to be over." Iori pointed out," And then..."

Kanari interrupted, "Everything's going to start feeling more real by then. Not like it doesn't now it's just-"

"-Like a dream? Or...nightmare?" Iori finished with a giggle. Kanari joined her in laughing and the two just looked over at each other with a nostalgic look in their eyes.

"Oh-! What time do you have to get to school?" Iori suddenly asked.

"Like, eight-thirty." Kanari answered, causing Iori to frown slightly.

"Well, I think you're running a little late.." Iori commented, prompting Kanari to check her phone for the time. It was eight thirty-three now. All her efforts may have been wasted but, at least she had been reunited with an old friend.

"Oh well. My philosophy is...If you're inevitably going to be late, Then just be as late as you want." Kanari explained, causing Iori to laugh.

"Do you want to grab some breakfast with me?" Iori asked as she pointed to the cafe next door.  
"Would I ever." Kanari answered wryly as the two of them walked in. Kanari had walked passed this cafe many a times, but never walked in. Now she knew why. It felt so, high-end and almost classy. Almost because it was just a cafe. Kanari wondered if Iori was feeling as overwhelmed in this place as she was. She looked over to the girl and noticed she didn't seemed overwhelmed at all but rather, at peace. The cafe seemed to populated by mostly adults in groups, most of them looking like they were high-class. Well, maybe just in Kanari's eyes.

"So, what are you going to have? I can pay for you." Iori offered as she took out her pale pink and teal coin purse.

"No need..." Kanari declined as she burrowed her hands in her pockets in search of some loose change. She couldn't find a single dime.

"Are you sure?" Iori giggled as Kanari admitted her defeat. Kanari told Iori what to order and the two walked up to place their order.

"Can I have a medium Hazelnut Macchiato and a medium French Vanilla?" Iori ordered.

"Is that going to be all you're having today?" The man working behind the register asked in a voice Kanari considered friendly as he wrote down their orders on a pair of cups. She had to admit, he was kinda attractive. Even if he was just a barista.

"Yes," Iori responded as she paid for the order via card, a feat that impressed Kanari greatly. After Iori completed the transaction and the the two received their beverages, they walked over to an empty table seated right beside the window. The sun was getting in Kanari's eyes in this position but she fought against complaining about it. Once the two were seated they engaged in some small talk.

"It must be nice starting school at nine." Kanari remarked casually as she gingerly took a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah, only downside being school ends for us at three-thirty." Iori shrugged with a giggle," So, what's it like at now Seinori now? Do you have any classes with anyone from the old team?"

Kanari put her drink down after taking a brisk sip," No, sadly. Lots of us from the group kinda just drifted into pairs and into different groups."

"Oh, how unfortunate." Iori said tonelessly before taking a sip from her cup," So, did you ever hear about what happened to Yoko?"

And from there, the two had engaged in a gossip fest that both parties seemed very, very absorbed in.

"Remember Suzume? The girl with the really long braids?" Iori asked as she leaned in closer.

"That name brings back memories." Kanari grinned as she prompted Iori to say more.

"I heard from one of my friends who goes to Higashiyama that's she changed so much." Iori began with a smirk," She cut her hair so it reaches her shoulders and she dyed it really red."

"Really red?"

" _Really_ red. I also heard about her partying every week." Iori added, causing Kanari to stare at her in disbelief," Yeah I know, who would have ever thought it?"

"Our little Suzume's all grown up." Kanari remarked as her gaze fell listlessly to the table.

"But Kanari, you changed a lot too." Iori pointed out as she gestured Kanari to look at herself. Kanari looked, admitting that she looked nothing like her middle-school self.

"I guess I did." Kanari shrugged nonchalantly.

"But, it's a good change. I think this look suits you." Iori stated, though to Kanari, her response sounded a little forced.

"But, even though our cheer group has drifted apart, I know one thing must have prevailed through all of that." Iori said smugly as she placed her cup onto the table.

Kanari looked at her in question, seeming rather confused by Iori's statement. She waited for her to finish her though and reluctantly, Iori did.

"You and Miki's friendship?" Iori finished with a small scoff as she looked at Kanari curiously," You two were like, joined at the hip. The best of friends! The dynamic cheer combo of Seinori?"

Kanari groaned a little upon hearing that last part, coming very close to cringing as well," We kinda...don't hang out as much as we use to. She went into student council and I just didn't do clubs up until this year."

"Oh, that's sad to hear..." Iori said, sounding a tad dismal," I'm surprised...you two were always together in middle-school. Like, always."

"Yeah, we kinda just decided to go with what was best for us. Nothing wrong with that." Kanari debriefed neutrally.

"I guess, but...you two were so close. Do you still even hang out?" Iori questioned with concern.

"Can't say we do. But, it's alright. I've got a bunch of great friends now, and if me and Miki's friendship couldn't survive high-school, then...oh well. It is what it is." Kanari shrugged.

"I suppose..." Iori replied as she took one giant sip from her cup to empty it.

"You two wouldn't go a minute without gossiping or talking about cheer practice, or all the cute guys on the soccer team. Not to mention, you two were so obsessed with keeping up with your image." Iori listed off, though she appeared to be unaware of how irritated Kanari looked while hearing all of this.

"Yeah, things sure are a lot different now." Kanari reiterated, eyes shifting to the side as she drank her coffee.

"The things high-school does to people." Iori remarked absent-mindedly as she zoned out," Well, it's eight-fifty now, so we probably should head to school."

"Yeah of course." Kanari said as the two walked out of the cafe," Well, I guess I'll see you around when I can."

"Not so fast Kana," Iori declared as she held Kanari back from leaving," For old times sake?"  
"I'm not sure..." Kanari responded hesitantly as she placed her hand over behind her head.

"Please~?"

Kanari sighed and nodded reluctantly.

"We!"

"Are!"

"The Seinori Snakes! We're the ones who will make you quake! With strikes like venom and defeats that will put you in your place, when we're through you, you'll be put to shame and disgrace!" The girls cheered together.

"That was so embarrassing." Kanari moaned after the cheer as she hung her head in humiliation.

"You and Miki made that cheer together." Iori reminded with a giggle," I'll see you around ok?"

Kanari waved goodbye, seeming a little tense as she began to walk back to the school.

Middle school, it felt like it was ages ago and yet, those moments from so long ago just felt so tangible and Kanari had no idea why. Perhaps it was because of performing the cheer with Iori and having all those other fond, bittersweet, memories associated with that cheer resurface after hearing herself chant that cheesy cheer. Kanari intentionally decided to not mention the fact that the very cheer her and Miki created in middle school was still being used by the cheerleaders of Seinori now. Funny thing was, those girls had no idea who wrote it.

Kanari remembered those days so clearly, when she would wake up early every morning, feeling super excited and ready for school. Why? So she could hang out with her cheer squad aka _the_ squad. Every girl in cheer was ridiculously pretty. they all had long hair, not too long, but long enough to be considered as long. All of them flaunted the cute knee-socks that all the cheerleaders wore with their school uniform. The socks weren't anything extraordinary; just a regular pair of standard knee-highs with the school colours on it reversed. They all acted like they were the best and what felt good about that was knowing that pretty much everyone agreed with this fact. They were pretty much one of the popular groups at school and man, did it ever feel good to be popular.

During those days, the ash-blonde Kanari was always forcing herself to be a social butterfly, which wasn't hard for the most part it was just, hard to maintain such a personality at times. Especially when it felt like some gatherings would just never end. But Kanari knew it was all worth it. Because if she could keep these friends and this glamorous lifestyle, then everything would be fine. When Kanari was in middle-school, she wasn't ever with Renge, primarily because Renge didn't go to Seinori until the first year of high-school. So Renge knew almost nothing about this life that Kanari once lived. So, during that time, their friendship was put on hold for a little bit.

Kanari could remember getting super excited for a game vividly, and it was like nothing could compare to how much fun she was having whenever she was performing a cheer with her team. Those skimpy purple and blue uniforms made her feel like a queen every time she put hers on. She loved the spotlight and she loved being in cheer with her then best friend, Miki Maizawa. This truly felt like the good life. She had awesome friends, even more awesome after-school activities. And the not so occasional group of boys fawning over her, along with being idolized by girls a year junior to her. Life had never been so good.

But, as the days went by, Kanari felt as if she might've been losing interest in the thing she loved most. Which scared her, a lot. It really freaked her out and made her worry so much her head would begin to hurt trying to figure just what was wrong with her. Was this something that required medical attention? Most likely not, but it felt like it, considering how severe this all seemed to her. Maybe, the group needed a new signature cheer? But, her and Miki created their signature cheer together and they worked so hard on that one. So, what was it that was making cheerleading dull for her? She remembered how she began to experience those feelings of wanting to try something new for the last couple of weeks. Maybe it wasn't a good idea for someone as popular as her to try out the look she had in mind but, it was worth a shot. Maybe her friends would've even encouraged her to try it out! But Kanari didn't want to take any risks.

One day after school, Kanari asked her sister Sayaka if they could go to her favourite store.

"Are you sure? There's not a lot of bright and cheery colours there for you." Sayaka warned her, with Kanari waving her hand in dismissal. Those days, Sayaka had very bright blue hair and unapologetically wore tons of eyeliner. She always appeared to be very edgy, but she only started dressing this way for a few weeks now, concerning her and Kanari's mother greatly in the process.

"It's fine! I just wanna see what it's like!" Kanari claimed with a giggle.

Sayaka complied and took her sister into her current favourite store.

"Pick out whatever you want." Sayaka declared as she rubbed her shoulders when they arrived. Kanari's eyes darted madly around the store, looking each display and feeling the desire to try on as many outfits as she possibly could. There were so many cute outfits and accessories, it left Kanari breathless. In the end, Kanari decided to buy some tank tops, all black of course with some graphic print on them, but nothing lacy or frilly. She was so tired of all these girly things that she didn't want it to infect her new interest. She also bought a pair of studded knee high charcoal boots that she fell in love with the minute she saw them.

But, even during summer, when she would meet up with her friends from cheer every now and then, Kanari still wasn't comfortable with this idea of dressing up the way she wanted to.

Those visits always consisted of Kanari reverting to her usual, and unknown to her friends, past self. It was nice to hang out with her friends and act as if nothing ever happened but, it also made Kanari feel like she was living two separate lives. Which she didn't like the feeling of. She had always been an open book and closing herself up on account of feeling like she wouldn't be accepted by her friends didn't sit well with her. So she decided that she was going to enhance her uniform a little for the first day of high-school. Wearing a pair of purple, orange and black knee-high socks with bats printed on them along with a heavy amount of eyeliner that day. She put some temporary hair dye in her hair as well and everyone in her student body was very shocked about her transformation. Kanari just basked in all this attention, until she approached Miki, who she expected to be very harsh to her about her appearance. Miki acted liked nothing had ever happened and that Kanari was the same old Kanari, much to her unexpected relief. But unfortunately, they were in different classes this year and being unable to be in the cheerleading club as they were too old now, they didn't interact as often as Kanari wished for. Not to mention, whenever Kanari tried hanging with Miki, she would always say she was busy with student council throughout the entire year. Making her wonder if her little transformation had a part in making her and Miki drift away from each other.

When Kanari got to school,she was just in time for gym and was confronted by Renge immediately.

"You missed first period," Renge declared quietly as she put on her gym clothes. The two of them were in the change rooms and changing into their gym uniforms along with the rest of the girls in their class. By now, most girls were finished changing and only a handful of girls remained in the change room.

"I got lost." Kanari fibbed and Renge obviously wasn't buying it, her eyes narrowing at Kanari once hearing the white-haired girl's explanation.

"You couldn't get lost, considering you been going to this school for about five years." Renge pointed out as she gathered her uniform into her gym bag.

"Well, I did." Kanari shrugged as the two of them walked out, implying that Renge should stop prying now. Renge put the case to rest and the girls went into the gym.

Later, as lunch began, Kanari was walking over to the back-hall of the school, where most kids in groups would assemble to have lunch together. Kanari did recall that Renge was going to have lunch with her other friend group at the mall. Thankfully, the one time Kanari craved some time away from the same old people was the time that they were nowhere within the vicinity.

Renge's lunch group consisted of mostly guys plus Ayano. But they weren't even cute guys, sure maybe two of them could've been mistaken as attractive but they weren't the universal view of good-looking. Well, at least to Kanari they weren't. Renge's group consisted of herself, Ayano, a boy named Junpei, Marco, Daichi, and Keisuke. They all would usually talk about comics and anime, which was something Kanari wasn't really ever into, but she did enjoy watching the guys get all hyped up over it. Even Renge would sometimes get all hyped too, but as of recently, she seemed a little more enthusiastic and Kanari wasn't sure why. Maybe it was dating an otaku made Renge embrace her inner otaku even more. But today, Kanari wasn't up for the same old anime discussions, so she went outside and had lunch by herself.

Before she made her way to the doors leading to the schoolyard, she noticed a very thin booklet fall from somebody's bag. She looked at it and inspected it for a name, finding out quickly that it belong to Miki Maizawa. She darted her head up and noticed Miki was a few feet away from her. Kanari then rushed over to her and tapped her on the back.

Miki spun around, her dark caramel brown hair bouncing as she did so. She looked at Kanari with her innocent brown doe-like eyes and awaited for her to say something.

"You dropped this Miki." Kanari said as she held out the booklet.

"Thank you Mizukage." Miki replied in her usual upbeat friendly tone as she took the booklet from Kanari. Something about that tone made Kanari feel as if Miki was trying to imply she should've been calling her 'Maizawa', but Kanari didn't care. But the 'Mizukage' thing stung a little, not that she wasn't expecting it. For the last few times, whenever Kanari tried to talk to Miki, she would call her 'Mizukage, as if they were strangers. Kanari then went outside to eat her lunch.

"Mizukage!" She heard a somewhat familiar voice shout. Kanari peered from behind the tree she was sitting under to see who had been calling her. Running up to her was Yugure and Kanari waved to her.

Yugure sat down beside her, panting a little as she tried to catch her breath.

"You know, Kanari's fine, now we're on a team together..." Kanari stated as she opened her lunch," Did you need something?"

"Ah, no. I was just hoping if I could have lunch with you!" Yugure responded," See, I was hoping the four of us could have lunch, but I couldn't find Renge anywhere and Chiyo was already with a bunch of her friends. But at least I get to have lunch with one of you guys! If that's ok!"

"It's alright." Kanari responded as she began to eat her lunch, her eyes downcast, as if lost in thought. Before a awkward silence emerged, Yugure immediately tried to engage in conversation.

"Is everything ok?" Yugure then asked. Kanari looked up to her with a near lifeless look in her eye, startling Yugure.

 _"Shoot, I shouldn't have asked that, I really shouldn't have! But, what else could I have said? Ugh, why didn't I just plan ahead?"_ Yugure thought to herself.

"I was just thinking about some old friends of mine." Kanari declared a little absently," A lot has changed since middle-school."

"You could say that again." Yugure commented in a regrettably cheerful tone as she opened her lunch.

"I kind of miss middle-school.." Kanari stated thoughtlessly.

"Well, that's quite strange, most of us wish middle-school never happened for us." Yugure responded carelessly, causing Kanari to give her a questioning look," I mean, well- it was an awkward time for most of us, transitioning into this weird phase in our lives, I mean I still was collecting dolls in middle-school."

Kanari giggled at Yugure," Well, I guess you do make a good point, lot of us were going through some weird times then. I just kind of miss my friends from middle-school is all.."

"Um, did something happen between you and Renge?" Yugure asked in a very cautious manner.

"No, it's just...I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Renge but sometimes...we clash when it comes to some things. Not like it's a major problem, it's just...sometimes I'd rather be around other people who would be more interested in the things that I liked and you know, a change of pace." Kanari explained.

"See, Renge was the shyest, most innocent girl in first year. She was seriously painfully shy, always wearing her hair in a tight bun, getting super-scared to ask questions aloud in class and scared of talking to cute guys. I remember catching her stare at her crush Shigeru so many times in class, it was not only embarrassing for the both of us, but maybe even a little frightening for poor Shigeru."

Yugure seemed a little tense for a moment, but she let Kanari continue.

"Basically, even though I've known Renge for years, we've always been opposites who have had trouble finding common ground. Not to say she's as shy as she was in first year, let's just say she's improved a lot. There's also probably a lot of things I don't know about her, considering she's secretive and well, there are even a few things she doesn't know about me." Kanari explained

"Well, I mean it's really quite..astonishing that you two have been able to accept your differences over all these years." Yugure replied," But, if there's something bothering you, you don't have to hesitate to tell me. I wouldn't tell a soul."

Though Kanari really was hesitant in telling Yugure about her little ordeal, something about Yugure and how genuine she appeared made Kanari feel comfortable in telling her.

"I was a middle-school cheerleader." Kanari confessed, feeling as if a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders after saying that.

"I knew that." Yugure said in what sounded like a deadpan tone as she squinted her eyes as Kanari," You and Maizawa were captains of the cheerleading team."

"Did you go here in middle school?" Kanari asked Yugure, who nodded in response," Oh, sorry for not remembering you."

"I remember you two being really good friends, right? And then when high-school started, nobody ever saw you two together." Yugure reminisced as she finished her lunch," That didn't bring up any bad memories or something did it-?"

"No, if anything, it was probably my fault." Kanari explained," Maybe I didn't put enough effort in trying to hang out outside of class and coupled with the fact that we weren't cheer together anymore..."

"We really loved doing cheer. We loved feeling as if we were popular and we always did things like have lunch together, go to each other's houses every other week, have sleepovers in the summer, then high-school just came and made us realize our fun had drawn to a close. Not to say I'm not having fun with you guys and being Pretty Cure and stuff it's just..." Kanari trailed off, unable to find the words.

"It's a different kind of fun from when you were in middle-school." Yugure finished for her," I get it. Wanting to go back to a time in your life when things were much simpler, and...different. Enjoyable in a way that could be easily forgotten as it's been so long ago since those times have past."

"Well, hey maybe...you can try hang out with Miki again! Ask her to do something over the weekend!" Yugure suggested.

Kanari smiled a little at how enthusiastic Yugure appeared to be and took her suggestion into consideration.

"Well, it's been awhile since I've had an actual conversation with her..." Kanari pointed out," But...maybe it's worth a shot."

"Yeah! Topher and I can even be there for support if you want!" Yugure offered, trying very hard not to come off as weird with such a statement. But Kanari thankfully just smiled in return and nodded in a determined manner to Yugure.

"So, does tomorrow at lunch work for you?" Kanari inquired as she stood up, offering Yugure a hand.

"Yeah!" Yugure beamed as she took Kanari's hand.

And so, the next day, same time around lunch Kanari stood outside Miki's classroom and awaited for her leave for lunch. Yugure also happened to be in Miki's class, so thankfully she wouldn't have to worry about tracking her down. Topher was currently residing in Kanari's backpack, seeming a little hesitant to accompany her at first as he could've been searching for the book of Omnipotence, but decided being here for her was the least he could after all they had done for him.

Kanari could feel her heart begin to race and it was killing her slowly. Last night, she had done some major thinking about this encounter with Miki and only then did she realize that this may've been a terrible idea. Talking to Miki and trying to hang out with her as if nothing had happened over the last three years? How could she even think of trying to do that? But then she reminded herself, nothing actually _did happen_. From what most people could see, it appeared the two simply drifted apart because they had been in different classes and clubs. Well, club in this case. But if that was all that kept them away from each other, would that have been an adequate reason for the two best friends to drift so far apart? Kanari kept reminding herself, the past was in the past, and that encounter from first year was so long ago. Then again, so was their middle-school years.

Yugure exited from the classroom and gave Kanari a thumbs up, walking over to the other side of the hallway to appear inconspicuous. Now Kanari was beginning to feel weak, she could feel it in her knees.

She peered into the classroom and watched Miki gather her things from off of her desk. She placed all her textbooks and notebooks into her backpack in such a poised and dainty manner, as usual. For years, Kanari was aware of the fact Miki always had this delicate charm to her and did virtually everything with such grace. When they were younger, Kanari often made fun of her for being such a quote on quote 'neat freak'. But now that they were older, it seemed so fitting of her.

Before Kanari zoned out completely, Miki began to walk out of the classroom causing the white-haired girl to snap back to earth.

"Hey, Miki!" Kanari blurted out as Miki stepped out of the doorway.

Miki paused for a moment, as if trying compose herself, and smiled warmly over to Kanari. This smile she wore was really nothing special, she used it when greeting pretty much everyone, yet it made Kanari feel at ease for some unknown reason.

"Hey Mizukage, did you need anything?" Miki asked politely while trying to sound somewhat professional as she was student council president.

"Um..." Kanari began awkwardly, darting her eyes to Yugure who discreetly flashed her another thumbs-up.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you would like to hang out with me on Saturday, maybe go and grab a coffee or something." Kanari offered as she tried very hard to maintain eye contact with Miki.

"I'm going dress shopping for the formal on Saturday with Akemi, sorry." Miki responded, sounding rather flat as she began walk away from Kanari.

"Maybe I can come with you guys! I haven't got my dress either!" Kanari stated as she began to follow Miki.

"We were also planning to meet with some sponsors for the fundraiser in March, and bringing too many people wouldn't look good for us.." Miki explained, still walking away from Kanari.

Why is it always like this?" Kanari asked all of a sudden as she stopped following. Miki continued to walk, not realizing Kanari was no longer following after her.

"I'm sorry?" Miki asked, pretending to be ignorant as she walked.

"We haven't hung out with each other since middle-school and we were best friends!" Kanari cried angrily, her cheeks flushed.

"Hey Miki, ready to go to the meeting?" Akemi asked Miki as she approached the girl.

Miki looked up towards Akemi and smiled that usual smile of hers," Yes, of course. I'll see you around ok Mizukage?"

Kanari watched Miki and Akemi walk away from her and into the student council meeting room, feeling as if she been forsaken. It hurt so much to be rejected by someone she once called her best friend. The one who she used to dish out her every secret to and the one who would always have her back, whether it be helping her with history homework or trying to help her be a little less awkward around some new girls on the cheer team. How could she give up on her so easily without a second thought? Did their friendship mean nothing to her?

Soon, the halls were empty and the only people that were left were herself, Topher and Yugure.

"I'm really sorry about what happened..." Yugure said in a dismal tone as she ran up to Kanari. Yugure looked over to Kanari feeling absolutely guilty for what just happened. She really didn't expect this to happen, honestly! She just hoped Kanari knew that.

"This is all my...Kanari?" Yugure then asked as she noticed Kanari shaking a little, as if in pent-up rage.

"Kanari?" Yugure asked again as she watched the girl, who's eyes were obscured by her bangs.

"I'm fine." Kanari declared after she took a deep breath," Absolutely fine. I just...need some time by myself ok?"

Yugure nodded and left her by herself with Topher still in Kanari's bag.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Topher asked her in a cautious voice as Kanari sat cross-legged.

"Me? Yeah, I'm perfectly fine!" Kanari claimed falsely," I just...you know, I probably should've seen it coming I guess..."

Topher didn't seem convinced though.

Yugure started walking by herself, feeling trememdously guilty over what happened to Kanari. Suddenly, her phone started ringing. She checked her caller ID, seeing that it was Chiyo calling her.

"Sakurami, what is it?" Yugure asked in a hurry, realizing she sounded somewhat rude after saying that.

"We've got a little problem outside on the track..." Chiyo said, with what sounded like a Delinquous screaming in the background.

"Oh great..." Yugure groaned as she heard the Delinquous," I'm on my way."

She ended the call and ran to the school exit that would lead her to the school's track. Once Yugure was outside at the track, she found Chiyo and Renge, now transformed and fighting against a strange figure.

"Just what is that?" Yugure gawked as she watched Cure Literature block a punch thrown by the figure. This figure seemed feminine and had pale teal skin with lilac hair styled into what resembled a pair of pom-poms on her head. She also donned a purple and blue cheerleader uniform.

"Go team!" The Delinquous cheered as it wrapped her arm around Literature's neck.

"It's a Delinquous..." Literature gasped out as she tried to break free from the Delinquous' clutch.

Yugure still seemed confused and asked while taking out her pen," Aren't they supposed to look like monsters?"

"That's what I thought..." History grimaced as she kicked the Delinquous in it's side. The Delinquous groaned and got up slowly, glaring daggers at History.

"Where's Kanari?" Literature questioned Yugure as she darted up to the Delinquous and delivered a punch to it's face.

"She's in a bit of a bind right now." Yugure answered sheepishly.

"Hello?" Kanari said into the phone," What? On the track? Like, right now? But I'm-! Alright, I'm going, I'm going."

"What was that about?" Topher asked as Kanari stood up.

"Duty calls." Kanari responded as she held out her Fountain pen of Knowledge and ran out of the nurse's office, with Topher following behind her.

When Kanari and Topher appeared on the track, the found the rest of the Cures all tied against the tallest high-jump pole near the school track.

"Guys!" Kanari cried out loudly as she laid her eyes on her friends.

"Where have you been?" History asked flatly.

"So, it would appear the last one has finally showed up." Zephora reported from the top of the bleachers, with a fainted Miki by her side.

"Miki!" Kanari shouted at the top of her lungs. She groaned in frustration and took out her pen.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" Kanari shouted as an array of blue lights came to envelope her within them.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic introduced.

Surprisingly, her wounded arm looked as good as new, as if nothing ever happened.

"You." Arithmetic said in a stern, somewhat cold tone as she looked at the Delinquous," This stops now."  
"Oh, I'm so absolutely scared!" The Delinquous said as it pretended to faint," I'd like to see you try and stop me."

Arithmetic zipped towards the Delinquous and sparred with it for a few minutes. The Delinquous was inhumanly fast and Arithmetic was experiencing some difficulty in trying to keep up with it. She could feel herself unwillingly slowing down and getting tired, barely missing a punch to chest as she ducked down in an instant.

"You aren't any fun." The Delinquous complained as she brought Arithmetic closer to her as she held her by the scruff of her dress and threw her to the other side of the track.

"Just untie us, we can help!" History pleaded as they all watched Arithmetic try to stand up.

"No, I gotta do this by myself, otherwise I won't be able to live it down..." Arithmetic declared.

"Just what is she talking about?" Literature questioned as she tried to wiggle out of the ropes that she tied with. Science looked down and pretended to be as clueless as her teammates.

"You should listen to them, this is getting boring you know..." The Delinquous said flatly.

"Oh, you're getting bored? Well...how about we spice things up a bit then?" Arithmetic proposed as she dusted off her dress.

The Delinquous waited for Arithmetic continue," How about we do a cheer-off?"

"Ooh, now that sounds like fun!" The Delinquous cried as it clapped her hands.

"Alright, now I'm going to need a team..." Arithmetic shrugged as she went and attempted to free her teammates.

"Geometric frenzy!" She shouted as she broke the ropes that tied her fellow Cures to the poles.

"We're going to do...what?" Literature asked nervously as she stood up and brushed herself off.

"I'll make sure it's an easy cheer alright?" Arithmetic declared as she broke the other Cures free.

"Do you even know how to preform a cheer?" History asked in a skeptic voice.

Arithmetic snickered and simply said," Who do you think you're talking to?"

"So..." The Delinquous began, her voice echoing now that she had multiplied herself into four," What's it going to be? Best two out of three?"

"Single round." Arithmetic stated as she faced the Delinquous.

"Ooh, how risky..." The Delinquous remarked as her mouth lifted into a devious grin.

Arithmetic took a deep breath and told the girls what cheer they were going to do. History and Literature looked at her appearing very confused while Science simply giggled. Though the two puzzled Cures tried questioning Arithmetic on why and where she heard of this cheer, she didn't say a thing.

"Ready?" The Delinquous asked as her team stood impatiently. Arithmetic nodded and the Delinquous began it's cheer.

"Ok! We've got the heat, we've got the heat and guess who we will beat to the street! We're dangerous and to be feared! Run while you can, Temptation's here!" The Delinquous team cheered," Go team!"

Arithmetic looked over to her teammates, appeared very unimpressed with their cheer. Sure, it was a little catchy, and well-coordinated for something that was most likely put together in under thirty seconds, but if their cheer went as well as she hoped it would, there was no chance of them getting beat. Absolutely no chance at all.

"Are you guys ready?" Arithmetic asked as she looked over to her team.

Arithmetic's team looked at her appearing rather weary but they all still nodded in approval. Arithmetic drew out a long sigh before she began their cheer.

The girls positioned themselves so that Arithmetic was in front of them, with Literature and Science on either side of her and History at the back.

"Ready? Ok!" Arithmetic cheered in a forcefully joyous tone," We!"

"Are!" Literature, Science and History shouted together.

"The Seinori Snakes! We're the ones who will make you quake! With strikes like venom and defeats that will put you in your place, when we're through you, you'll be put to shame and disgrace!" During the cheer, all the Cures, except Arithmetic, manage to attack the clones of the Delinquous, causing them to disappear, while keeping up with their 'routine'.

By the end of their routine, the Delinquous was reduce to a one-man team.

But before ending the cheer, Arithmetic signaled History to help her with their little finale.

History folded her hands together and Arithmetic jumped off of them, doing a backwards leap in mid-air and driving a kick into the Delinquous' face. The Delinquous then staggered backwards and fell flat on her back.

"Go team!" Arithmetic cheered playfully with a snicker.

The Delinquous struggled to get up, but it eventually did and grabbed Arithmetic by her dress again with both of her hands.

"Why do you feel the need to fight so hard? Do you even know who's life you're even trying to save?!" The Delinquous hissed," The girl who played you like a violin, the girl who ditched you upon realizing you were different, the girl who would no longer care for you because you changed!"

"So what if I changed?" Arithmetic asked with a small smirk," So what if I'm no longer what she wants in a friend? I still care about her. Just because she gave up on me, doesn't mean I have to give up on her. Besides, I'm not convinced that she's given up on me! We had been through so much, she couldn't just push me to the side like that without a single regret!" With that, Arithmetic drove a punch into the Delinquous and sent it flying, but it came running back to her in seconds.

"But she did." The Delinquous reminded her and she preformed a high-kick and flung Arithmetic up into the air.

"I know that a true friend isn't suppose to judge you, they're suppose to always be there, and yeah why it seemed like Miki stopped caring...she's more to me than you think!" Arithmetic shouted as she knocked the Delinquous onto it's feet as she kicked it.

"Miki...she's more than a pretty face with the role student council president. She's kind and caring and one of the most selfless girls I have ever had the luck of meeting, she's better than deserting her best friends over some change. She had always been right there when I needed her. So please, don't waste your breath telling me who has and hasn't given up on me!"

Her fingertips began to glow an enticing shade of blue. Arithmetic took notice of this instantly and lit up with joy. It was her time to shine.

"Pretty Cure, Quadratic Termination!" She shouted as a three dimensional octagon made up of math equations appeared and trapped the Delinquous within it.

Once the octagon disappeared, the Delinquous collapsed, appearing quite defeated.

"Let's end this." Arithmetic declared as she stood in front of the Delinquous.

"Pretty Cure, Problem solving Paradox!" She called out as she purified the Delinquous. The Delinquous reverted to it's original form, which was poster in the shape of a female cheerleader and Miki's teal coloured Inner Scholar returned back into her.

Miki laid there, unconscious and seeming so at peace, it was making Kanari uneasy just looking at her in such a form. She waited patiently for her to wake up at the top of the bleachers, with the rest of the girls standing below the bleachers secretively.

Eventually, Miki came to and look at her surroundings, seeming very unsure of what she was doing here.

"Why am I at the top of the bleachers?" Miki asked groggily as she raised herself up.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing." Kanari remarked with a snicker, startling Miki in the process.

"Mi...Mizukage! Why...what, what happened?" Miki asked as she placed her hand over her heart as she looked around in distraught.

"I don't know. I saw you here and I guess, you decided to take a nap or something." Kanari replied, poking her tongue out a bit," So we still on for Saturday?"

"We never agreed on Saturday." Miki reminded her in a monotone voice as she stood up hastily and began to get off the bleachers.

"I know we didn't agree for Saturday." Kanari declared as she grabbed a hold of Miki's arm," But, I just wanted to hang out with you. I haven't talked to you in what feels like forever and that sucks. I miss hanging out with you. I miss our sleepovers, I miss doing cheer with you, and I just miss all those fun times we used to have."

"Plus, you did put up these posters to encourage the middle-school girls to join cheer club, like we did." Kanari pointed out as she held out the poster to Miki.

"I didn't put those up, that was Akemi." Miki corrected in an impatient tone," Look, Kanari... I don't think I deserve to be your friend after what I did to you."

"Huh?" Was all Kanari could manage.

"I...I shut you out for so long all because you changed. And I didn't like that, but...you only changed on the outside and I didn't realize that for the longest time. Deep down, you were still the fun-loving girl who was captain of the cheerleading team with me, the girl who knew literally every, and I mean every secret about me. But...because I was so ignorant, that cost me my friendship with that girl. And, I don't know if we can go back to the way it use to be.." Miki explained wistfully.

"We won't know unless we try..." Kanari pointed out, only receiving a tiny smile from Miki," So, is Sunday out of the question?"

"We'll see...ok?" Miki said softly as she stepped down from the bleachers," See you later."

Kanari waved goodbye and mouthed the words later as she watched Miki head back into the school. Were her efforts really fruitless? Only time would tell.

Moments later, when Kanari got off of the bleachers, Renge came from out of nowhere and clung her arms around Kanari.

"I'm really sorry if I come off as distant. Or if it seems like I don't care. I just want to remind you, if you ever have something you need to get off your chest, someone to vent to, anything at all please know...I'm always here." Renge said.

"Thanks Renge..." Kanari said in unusually calm tone," I needed to hear that."


	14. A Pretty Cure Sleepover?

For once in art club, Renge and everyone else wasn't actually working hard on their projects, at all. Renge considered the notion to be excusable for the people in her grade as most of them had a mock-exam the hour before art class and it was a Thursday before a no-school Friday, not to mention the teacher they usually supervised the classroom wasn't here today and in his place was some young-looking woman who on her laptop and completely absorbed she was doing on there. Most likely playing some game considering the class was able to hear odd little sounds coming from her computer at random.

Renge rubbed her shoulders a little, noticing how tense they were. She winced at the stiff knots she ran her fingers against and began to wonder just what lead to such a predicament. Most likely, it was a mix of trying to keep up with this Pretty Cure business, her social life and school life. Though, it appeared that her school life had been suffering a bit as of lately. Renge took a small peak at the test paper inside her math binder. A fifty-nine percent, how great. She wasn't sure of exactly what she could pin the blame on; Pretty Cure or herself and her inability to focus when it came to studying for a math test. She tucked the sheet back into her binder and bashed her head against the desk from boredom.

While watching a video on his phone, from the corner of Marco's eye he could see something of a bright colour in Nao's hand. He darted his eyes to it and noticed a pale yellow mechanical pencil with bunnies on it in Nao's hand.

"Hey Nao, It's stuff like that that makes Renge call you kawaii boy." Marco declared with a small snicker, not even glancing over to the blonde boy.

"It's not my pencil." Nao debriefed indifferently as he kept his eyes glazed over his tablet, playing some game.

"Then who's is it?" Marco inquired curiously, turning off his phone.

"It's my classmate Sakurami's pencil." Nao responded, still playing his game.

"You know Chiyo?" Renge asked as her head shot up in an instant, startling the pair of them.

"Yeah, she's in my homeroom. We were working on a class project the other day..." Nao replied casually," Do you know her?"

Renge panicked for a spilt-second," Yeah we're, family friends." Technically, she wasn't lying, they just never knew they were family friends up until a couple of weeks ago. But the mention of Chiyo reminded her something. She still had to plan their sleepover. Because of the fact that Renge felt some bonding was in order between the four of them, Renge decided to host a sleepover at her place for tomorrow amongst her, Kanari, Chiyo and Yugure. But..the only person she told in the group about the sleepover was Kanari, who of course was always up for a sleepover at Renge's, though they may've had only three sleepovers together in their entire life.

The only reason Renge ended up procrastinating on inviting the other girls was because she was way too nervous about sounding clingy, which was the last thing she wanted. But, never had she took this long to ask somebody to have a sleepover with her at this short of a notice! She was slightly ashamed of herself, but she had to invite the girls really soon regardless. With a deep breath, Renge texted the girls about the sleepover and anxiously waited for their response.

Yugure responded within a matter of seconds, saying that she'd love to come over for a sleepover, much to Renge's delight. It took Chiyo about twenty minutes to respond, just when the club was dismissed. She too also said she was free tomorrow.

Renge smiled down at her phone as she walked alongside Nao to the school doors. A sleepover with her fellow Pretty Cures was just what the group needed to unwind and finally get to know each other. At least, that's what Renge believed. The thought of everyone coming together just to have a girls' night-in and just do something...normal as a group made Renge's heart leap with joy. It was times like these where she felt this undying, questionable need to cherish these moments, as if she may never have another chance to have them again.

"So, what are you doing for the weekend?" Renge asked Nao nonchalantly as she placed her folded arms behind her head.

"I'm probably going to buy that Pokemon game and try to beat by Sunday night..." Nao responded thoughtfully.

"That's only two days..." Renge remarked, an undertone of disbelief present in her voice.

"Not if I get the game on Friday morning.." Nao pointed out," Then that's makes it three days."

"Why are you so weird?" Renge questioned under her breath with a slight laugh.  
'I could ask you the same thing." Nao said with a smirk before the two of them part ways. But just before that happened, Renge made sure to give Nao a hug before their little absence away from each other commenced.

"Aw, you guys are so sweet!" A voice chimed from across the hall. Both Renge and Nao reddened slightly upon hearing and recognizing the voice. Nao quickly waved goodbye to Renge and left. Kokoro then walked up to her.

"Hey Kokoro, how's it going?" Renge asked," Got any plans for this weekend?"

"Nothing really, Probably going to be one of those lazy weekends which is basically going to consist of me sleeping over at my sister's while the inside of my house gets painted. What about you? Anything fun planned?"

"Yeah, for once I actually do." Renge answered with a forced and awkward giggle," I'm having a sleepover with some of my friends tomorrow night, it's going to be great, hopefully~"

Renge then thought of something in an instant," If you want, you can come over to my place for the sleepover tomorrow night."

"I'll see if I can pull it off, alright?" Kokoro responded in an upbeat tone," I have to go meet with a friend so I'll see you later!"

Renge waved goodbye to Kokoro as she ran off in a few seconds. In the event of Kokoro being able to come, her quaint, somewhat small house was going to be quite crowded tomorrow evening. Come to think of it, this may have been the biggest sleepover she ever hosted. Renge was impressed, but at the same time, mildly nervous as her mom had only been told two friends were sleeping over. Only reason she excluded the rest was so she could actually receive approval for this whole thing. And, by the time Sanae would come home from work, it would be too late to send the extra friends home. Renge would've never thought she'd see the day when she would do something so extreme like disregard her mother's requests so soon. It seemed this final year of high-school was making her a little carefree in some ways.

The next evening, Renge was inside her living room, heaving out a few breaths after dragging up an old queen mattress her parents no longer used from the basement. Of course, she only managed to preform this feat with Topher helping her. Renge rubbed her shoulders that felt as tense as ever and crashed onto the mattress without a single care.

"At least it'll be easy to throw this thing back into the basement." Renge thought aloud.

"I guess," Topher said as he stretched out his arms," But, you really prepared for tonight."

"Huh? Yeah, I guess so..." Renge responded as she glanced over to the table that both Renny and Topher were looking at. The table was overflowing with snacks and drinks, ranging from rainbow-chocolate chip cookies to chips and salsa. And, even though she only had three, potentially four, guests coming over tonight, she assembled a large row of red cups running down the edge of the table.

"Are you planning to eat all this food tonight?" Renny questioned incredulously as he poked one of the chip bags.

"Not all, but...we can't let most of it go to waste~" Renge answered with a mildly devious chuckle.

"You know, you never informed us on why you called this overnight meeting..." Renny pointed out, causing Renge to laugh.

"Overnight meeting? It's just a sleepover!" Renge clamored between giggles," All I want to do is spend some time with my team, considering I just met two of them a little while ago. I feel like we'll work better as a team if we get to know each other anyways."

"Will we still be able to go over some things regarding the Pretty Cure though? Because Topher and I were hoping to do so tonight." Renny inquired as he perched onto the arm of the chair next to Renge's little concession stand.

"If Kokoro doesn't show up, then yes we can go over whatever Pretty Cure stuff you want." Renge responded as she placed a pair of pillows on the queen sized bed.

"Who's going to sleep there?" Topher asked suspiciously as he watched Renge put a comforter over the mattress.

"Hopefully not Kanari." Renge answered before the three of them heard the doorbell ring," Oh, our first guest!"

Renge opened up the door, revealing Kanari in the doorway with her sleeping bag in one hand and a two-liter bottle of soda in the other.

"Speak of the devil." Renny commented as Kanari made her way into Renge's house.

"You know, it's been a while since I've used your front door.." Kanari stated as she dropped her sleeping bag at the front of the staircase leading the the upper floor of Renge's house. Today, Kanari decided to wear a pair of acid-washed jeans and an indigo tank-top under a sleeveless turquoise cardigan with a pair of dark grey studded boots.

"But what about all those Pretty Cure meetings that we've been having these last couple of weeks?" Renge questioned curiously.

"What about them?" Kanari asked in an innocent tone, implying to Renge that she had used her favourite entrance to get into Renge's room.

 _"Damn it mom! Keep my window closed!"_ Renge thought to herself before they heard the doorbell ring again.

"More guests!" Renge cried as she dashed over to the door. She opened to the door again and found Chiyo, along with Yugure standing with large bags hung over their shoulders. Chiyo was wearing her hair in a high ponytail with a pale pink blouse on underneath a tawny jacket and tights while Yugure wore a maroon sweater-vest over a long-sleeved lilac dress shirt and a white polka-dotted skirt.

"How'd you guys get here at here at the same time?" Kanari questioned in suspicion as Renge closed the door behind them.

"I texted Yugure and told her I could give her a ride." Chiyo responded as the two girls laid their bags on the floor.

"A ride...?" Renge and Kanari repeated, both girls sounding rather confused. Chiyo then held up her car keys to a now very fazed Renge and Kanari.

"Chiyo has her license." Yugure commented to the pair who continued to look at Chiyo in shock.

 _"So mature...!"_ The two of them thought.

"Uh well," Renge began after snapping herself out of shock," Now that we're mostly all here, let's take this sleepover upstairs!"

So, the girls followed Renge up to her room and all seated themselves in their designated spots, while Yugure just looked at Renge's room in awe. The anime posters were very nice as was her desk filled with all these cute little knick-knacks. Not to mention her bed was embellished with stuffed animals all around, each of them being very cute in their own way. But, what really tied the room together for Yugure was the glow in the dark stars on Renge's ceiling. Yugure had an identical set in her own room! Along with the planets as well.

"You have a very nice room..." Yugure remarked bashfully as she daintily sat herself down on Renge's bed. She then looked over to Renge to see if it was ok for her to sit there.

Renge gave her a nod of approval and said," Thanks, mom thinks I need a shelf for some of the stuff on my desk."

"A shelf would do your desk some good, considering how little room you have on it." Chiyo commented with a little scoff," I don't understand how you could be ok with it being so crowded."

"It's not crowded." Renge corrected as she stuck her tongue out to Chiyo," It's personalized."

"You think this is crowded? You should've seen it in elementary!" Kanari jeered," She was obessesed, and I mean obsessed with those little bobble-head animal toys, you know the ones right? And she had a play set in nearly every corner possible in her room!"

"Kanari, don't tell them that kinda stuff!" Renge shouted as she hid her face behind her hands in humiliation. Both Yugure and Chiyo laughed at this and shortly after, Renge awkwardly joined them.

"So, what do you usually do at sleepovers?" Yugure then asked curiously, causing everyone to look at her in surprise.

"Sorry, that wasn't a weird to ask or anything was it?" Yugure asked cautiously as held one of Renge's throw pillows in front of herself.

"No, I think we were all just under the impression that you've been to a bunch of sleepovers already..." Renge responded for everyone sheepishly.

" _Me?_ Why me?" Yugure asked in disbelief as she pointed to herself to underline her question.

"You're kinda in the 'it' crowd.." Kanari stated to Yugure with a simple shrug.

"How am _I_ in the it crowd?" Yugure asked as she chuckled a little.

"Well, you're friends with Yukimura and his girlfriend, and half the girls on the volleyball team who somehow all happen to be really popular..." Kanari listed off with her fingers.

"Wow, I never realized Satoshi was actually considered popular, let alone myself.."Yugure remarked thoughtlessly.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you Yugure..." Renge then began," Did you go here last year?"

"Um, yeah I did! I guess I just looked really different," Yugure chuckled awkwardly,"My hair was a lot shorter and I wore more makeup...here's a picture of me from second-year."

She held out her phone for Renge, Kanari and Chiyo to see. Renge and Kanari were struck with realization while Chiyo just squinted at the picture, trying to identify any resemblance between the girl and Yugure.

"Oh, you were that girl!" Renge responded in an unintentionally loud voice while Kanari simply darted her eyes from the picture to Yugure.

"I remember when you looked like this, I just never knew your name." Kanari stated as she kept staring at the screen while Yugure giggled uneasily.

"But, in response to your question from earlier..." Kanari began," I'm quite certain that girls do things like talk about crushes, life, gossip, and the occasional hair-braiding."

"So ladies, you may begin." Kanari declared as she released her hair from the ponytail it had originally been in.

"Wow, Renge, your hair is so long!" Yugure remarked as she began to brush Renge's hair.

"And soft..." Chiyo as she ran her hands through Renge's hair,"Is this the longest it's been?"

"Far from it actually. In elementary, it went down to my knees." Renge confessed with a forced chuckle as she adjusted her glasses.

"Hey, why won't you guys play with my hair?" Kanari asked with a pout as she glared over to the girls.

"Because it's probably dried out from all the bleach you must've doused it in." Chiyo answered flatly as she began to braid Renge's hair.

"Well it's not like Renge's hair is naturally straight!" Kanari claimed, receiving a glare from Renge," She straightens it all the time!"

"Do not!" Renge shouted back.

"Well then, what's this?" Kanari questioned in her tone of mischief as she ripped open Renge's closet, revealing a salmon pink straightener in it's box.

"Kanari, put that away!" Renge hollered as she rose up and tried to snatch the straightener away from Kanari.

"Make me!" Kanari challenged as she began to run around the room with it.

It only took a few moments for Kanari to relinquish the straightener back to Renge as trying to run around Renge's room was proven to be near impossible with four people inside coupled with it's size. Renge took it back in a huff and tossed it back into her closet relentlessly.

"It's no business of yours whether or not I straighten my hair!" Renge declared in an oddly righteous tone.

"Ooh, she's getting all fired up now..." Kanari mused flatly before whispering to Chiyo," It's so easy to get her like this, she's a fire-sign."

"And, which sign is that?" Chiyo whispered back.  
"The Aries!" Renge declared as she stood on her bed," As my birthday is April ninth."

"Ooh, the ram!" Yugure exclaimed as she clapped her hands together," What signs are you guys? My birthday's on October twenty-eighth, so that makes me a Scorpio!"

"Capricorn." Kanari answered as she folded her hands behind her head.

"I don't remember the name of mine...but my birthday's June tenth.." Chiyo responded neutrally.

"That's Gemini, the twins!" Yugure chirped," So that means, all of our signs fall under a different element. Hm, what are the chances?"

"Four in sixteen?" Kanari answered, not realizing Yugure's question was a rhetorical one.

Suddenly, Renny and Topher bursted into the room, the latter now in his regular form, holding up one of the chip bags from downstairs.

"Are you girls in need of food?" Renny asked as he gestured to the bag in his talons.

"Am I ever." Kanari responded as she motioned him to bring the bag of chips over to her. He did so and shortly after, the group initiated the Pretty Cure discussion that the birds wanted to do.

"So..." Yugure began after being informed about the entire Pretty Cure story from Renny and Topher, with a little help from the girls,"...Does this mean we also have Inner Scholars?"

Topher nodded and Renny asked," Why wouldn't you girls? You're all a fine example of scholarly intellectual individuals-"

"-To some degree." Topher interrupted in a deadpan tone.

"Well, if that's the case, then are they actually of any use to us when we're transformed?" Yugure then asked.

"Not yet." Renny answered, causing Renge to look at him in question.

"Not yet? What do you mean not yet?" Renge asked in a curious manner.

"Well, soon enough, when you guys become stronger as a team, you'll all be able to release your own Inner Scholar from within you and having it out them the open can make you guys a lot more stronger in civilian form." Renny explained.

"But isn't that risky? Having them outside of us when they could be taken away at any given moment?" Chiyo probed.

"A corrupted Inner Scholar is easier to kidnap. A perfectly healthy one can't be seen by a regular human, unless they have their Inner Scholars outside of them too." Topher explained.

"Wait, normal humans can have their Inner Scholar outside of them too?" Kanari interrupted, irritating Topher a little.

Topher regained his composure," It's uncommon, but yeah, it can happen."

"Not to mention, the longer it stays out of their owner's body, the stronger it becomes. Plus, it'll help you guys achieve a better understanding of yourselves with them around by your side." Renny added.

"Our Inner Scholars..." Renge trailed off, sounding rather unsure of all of this.

"...By our sides?" Chiyo finished absently as her gaze fell to the floor. The idea of having the Inner Scholars outside of them sounded, quite odd for all of them. It was a weird concept for them to grasp, and maybe that was another reason why they had yet to make these Inner Scholars appear outside of them.

"Hm...Yugu? Or..." Kanari began to say, grabbing everyone's attention.

"What are you doing." Chiyo asked flatly, narrowing her eyes over to the white-haired girl.

"Thinking of Yugure's nickname..." Kanari responded as she stroked her chin in thought as Yugure's cheeks flushed red.

"M-my nickname?" Yugure stammered in flustered tone as she clenched the pillow in her hands even tighter.

"Yeah, see...Chiyo's is ChiChi-chan, Topher's just Toph, or Tofu when he's being annoying, and now...what shall Yugure's be?" Kanari wondered as the pair she aforementioned flashed annoyed glares over to her. Kanari thought long and hard, with the occasional smirk and devious grin appearing on her face. Finally, she slammed her hand on Renge's desk as Yugure's nickname came to her.

"How's Yugu-rin?" Kanari asked, awaiting Yugure's approval, not that she really needed it, as she looked up to face the violet hair girl.

Yugure beamed," I think it's really cute! But, does Renge have a nickname?"

"Oh she used to, but then once this whole Pretty Cure thing began, it sorta became a little troublesome to use shortly after..." Kanari explained sheepishly with a giggle.

"What was it?" Yugure questioned curiously as the others began to start their own conversation.

"Watch this." Kanari instructed briefly before cupping her hands over her mouth," Ren!"

Both Renge and Renny spun their heads around to face Kanari. Yugure giggled slightly upon watching the two of them look at Kanari attentively as she proved her point. The girls then began to do those typical things that Kanari listed earlier inevitably and they all had fun in doing so. Talking about things like dream houses, perfect dates and life after high-school were the topics that the group seemed to be really enthusiastic about.

As the girls began to talk about after high-school, some tension amongst the girls began to rise.

"As nice as it sounds to get out of high-school..." Yugure began with her eyes downcast,"...Realizing that it'll become a reality soon is a bit intimidating."

Kanari nodded in agreement and Renge looked over to Chiyo saying," You're lucky. You still have another year of high-school left. But I bet you're dying to get this high-school stuff over with already so you can head out into the real world."

"And knowing Chiyo, she's probably going to do something practical like become an accountant or a teacher." Kanari mused, now laying on Renge's bed.

"Are you kidding me?" Chiyo questioned skeptically as she arched an eyebrow," I want to be a movie director."

Everyone then looked at Chiyo with surprise, the girl now reddening madly as all eyes were on her. After exasperating out a large sigh, Chiyo then said,  
"It's just a dream really and if things don't work out, then teaching is going to be my fall back choice."

"Ooh, interesting choice for your fall-back. But I never would have expected you to have an interest in filming." Kanari remarked casually," I too have a fall-back choice, but it's not something I'm too proud of..."

"Kanari, don't even think about it!" Renge demanded as her face turned bright red.

"What, work at Mizumoto Meadow?" Kanari snickered, knowing her statement sounded very ambiguous, which was just what she wanted. Renge groaned and she slapped her hand against her forehead.

"So what about you my little bird, any fall-back choices?" Kanari questioned as she leaned up against the wall beside Renge's bed.

Renge sighed and fell her heart sink for a second before responding shyly," I'm thinking about Journalism."

"That's sounds interesting!" Yugure exclaimed as she urged Renge to say more.

"Yeah, I figure since I like writing and stuff, Journalism might be a good fit..the most sensible fit anyways.." Renge remarked with shaky snicker," I don't have many practical talents.."

"Being practical is boring." Kanari stated as she waved a hand in dismissal.

"But being practical will pay the bills." Chiyo pointed out firmly as she crossed her arms.

"Ok then, Miss Director. But who's to say being impractical won't?" Kanari countered. Before Chiyo could answer, the girls heard a group of voices all shouting downstairs as the front door was opened. Renge listened closely to see if she could recognize any of these voices while the others remained frozen in position.

"Who could that be?" Yugure asked quietly, before Renge signaled her to be quiet. Renge pressed her ear against her door and slowly opened it, seeing if that would help her hear the voices from downstairs. After doing so, Renge groaned, now figuring who had entered her home and marched downstairs with a rather irritated look on her face.

"Hikaru, why are you home so late?" Renge asked impatiently as she stomped down the stairs.

Standing in the living room was her brother, accompanied by two of his old friends that Renge recognized from their old school. The boys were taller than him and they stood behind Hikaru awkwardly while the two initiated their argument.

"It's only five-thirty will you relax?" Hikaru said, sounding greatly irritated by his sister's undying concern as he crossed his arms.

"Well, please try not to let that happen again, it's not fair to not tell me where you are and expect me to just be unaffected by being worried." Renge declared," And is that my hat?"

Renge glowered to the bucket hat with a comic strip panel design on it atop of Hikaru's head and snatched it away from him.

"Ew, now it smells like you.." Renge hissed in absolute disgust as she tossed her beloved hat onto the nearby chair.

"Hikaru, you have a penny board?" One of the boys,Kazuki asked as he held up Renge's board that had been laying by the door way the entire time.

"It Renge's but she never rides it."Hikaru answered flatly, gesturing Kazuki to put the board down.

"That's because I've only had some practice with it!" Renge defended with a pout.

"Hey, can we some chips Hikaru?" The other boy, Keiji asked Hikaru as he sat down next to the table Renge set up.

"Fine, but not too many! You'll get a stomachache! And those are for my sleepover guests.." Renge responded hastily as she took a bowl from the kitchen and pour a small handful into it for Keiji. Keiji and Hikaru's other friend Kazuki exchanged looks of confusion to each other as Renge poured out the chips.

Hikaru then repeated, sounding as confused as his friends looked," Sleepover guests?"

"Yeah, I'm having my sleepover tonight, didn't mom tell you?" Renge asked as she closed the bag she was pouring Keiji's chips from.

"I thought your sleepover was tomorrow." Hikaru asked in a somewhat tense manner.

"No...It would be stupid to have the sleepover when mom's home anyways..." Renge pointed out as she walked over to Hikaru," I hope this isn't going to be a problem."

"It won't be once you cancel your sleepover, because I'm having _mine_ tonight." Hikaru declared as he gestured over to his guests.

Renge looked over towards her towering brother in sheer disgust and doubt. She hadn't once been informed about his sleepover so why was he telling her to cancel hers now when her guests were here first? The both of them knew very well that their house was unfit to have this many people for a sleepover so of course, it was going to have to be one or the other. Or one group get casted away into their cold, eerie basement.

"Hikaru, my guests' are already here. So, it'd be better off if you postpone your sleepover for some other time." Renge suggested, her blood beginning to boil as she glared up to Hikaru. Her brother glared back looking quite frustrated and said while raising his voice,

"Well my guests are already here too! Plus, it's going to be harder for them to get home anyways, they'd have to bus it for an hour! And, I don't see any of _your_ guests!" Hikaru pointed out viciously.

"Renge, is everything ok down there?" Yugure asked as the girls came downstairs. Renge smirked as the girls entered the living room, and glanced over to her corrected brother.

"Sorry, man. But it's about time your guests head home." Renge crooned as she batted her eyelashes.

Hikaru shook his head stubbornly and walked over to a table in the corner of the room where the phone was. Hikaru had a devious grin on his face and gave Renge a look that said to her, 'Your move'. He dialed a number and sat on the chair next to the table as Renge looked at the phone pretending to be unfazed by his action. The pair of them waited patiently as the phone rang while everyone else in the room appeared to be unsure of just what was going on.

"What's he doing?" Chiyo whispered into Renge's ear.

"Calling mom." Renge answered as she narrowed her eyes at her brother.

At Mizumoto Meadow, Sanae had just finished giving an order to a table of two. A very cute pair who appeared to be on some sort of date as they both looked at each with the most affectionate looks in their eyes. A pair like this was seldom ever here at Mizumoto Meadow, so seeing the two made Sanae's heart flutter. Something she thought her heart had forgotten how to do. She then noticed a table that had just arrived and she quickly zipped over to them.

"Hi, welcome to Mizumoto Meadow, what can I get for you?" Sanae asked as upbeat as ever to the group. The group consisted of what appeared to be a family of a single father and three girls. Sanae recognized this family with ease, as it was the family of one of her coworkers.

"I'll take the usual with extra ketchup please." The father ordered, not even taking a glance at the menu and just fixing his gaze on Sanae," Girls, what would you like?"

"Wow, I don't think I ever got the pleasure of meeting your daughters Takuya," Sanae remarked as she wrote down his order," I'm Sanae by the way girls. And I'm pretty sure your mom's going to be off in about a half-hour."

"We know." The eldest daughter, who looked no older than fifteen answered,"I'll just have the soup of the day. By the way, I'm Yuna."

"I'll take a chicken sandwich!" The middle daughter who seemed to be about twelve ordered," And my name's Remi."

"I want chicken nuggets and fries!" The youngest daughter ordered," And I'm Kiyomi!"

"Ok, so the usual for Takuya, Soup of the day for Yuna, chicken sandwich for Remi and chicken nuggets with fries for Kiyoko right?" Sanae repeated as she looked to the group for confirmation.

Everyone except for Kiyomi nodded in approval. Kiyomi pouted a little and corrected Sanae.

"It's Kiyomi, not Kiyoko." Kiyomi corrected softly.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that, Kiyomi." Sanae apologized, the words leaving a bad taste in her mouth after she said them.

"Sanae, you've got a caller!" One of the woman from the kitchen called out.  
"I'm coming!" Sanae shouted as she dashed over to the kitchen, handing one of the chefs the order before she went into the staff's break room where the telephone was located.

"Hello?" Sanae said into the phone.

"Mom, how could you not tell me Hikaru was going to have a sleepover today?" Renge shouted into the phone furiously.

"What? His sleepover isn't until next week..." Sanae responded, sounding a little confusion by Renge's accusation.

"Well, what are his friends doing here?" Renge asked with her question being followed by a 'hi Miss Sanae' from Keiji.

Sanae sat there for a moment in silence, quite unsure herself of just what she could do about this predicament. She then took a deep breath and finally said,

"Take one of the old heaters from the shed and put it in the basement."

"Sounds good to me." Renge declared as she nodded in approval.

"I don't think so, unless your group sleeps in the basement." Hikaru proposed angrily as he pointed a finger to Renge.

"I brought the mattress up from the basement so I think it's only fair that my guests get the living room!" Renge shouted.

"No way, the basement's still going to be cold even with the heater!" Hikaru claimed.

"Then you two will just have to flip a coin to see who's group stays!" Sanae yelled from over the phone," I'll be home around eleven. Hopefully you two will settle your argument by then."

Sanae hung up the phone and the group was left to decide what they were going to do.

Kanari broke the silence asking," So what are you going to-?"

"Go get a coin." Renge responded before Hikaru walked into the kitchen to grab a coin from their coin tray. Hikaru held out the coin and then he said,

"I'm picking heads."

Renge shrugged and so Hikaru flipped the coin. Everyone fell completely silence as the coin was launched in the air, with all of them staring at it expectantly. Hikaru swiftly caught the coin and revealed it to be facing tails.

"See you guys next week." Renge snickered as she walked over to open the door for Keiji and Kazuki.

"No, this isn't over yet!" Hikaru declared as he stood in front of the doorway to block his friends from leaving," I have something else who we can determine who gets to have their sleepover tonight!"

Chiyo then reminded him flatly,"But you already los-"

"-Bring it on!" Renge interrupted as she pumped a fist into the air, surprising her guests greatly.

"Who ever can reach the corner store by the train station first gets to have their sleepover tonight!" Hikaru declared.

"Ooh, that sounds like a real challenge! You're on!" Renge declared as she opened the door, with Hikaru, Keiji and Kazuki all bolting out in an instant.

Yugure then tried running out the door as well,"Renge, what are we waiting for? We gotta go-!"

"Easy tiger." Kanari said to the violet-haired girl as she put a hand on her shoulder in order to stop her.

"Hehe, that was too easy.." Renge remarked as a near devilish smile appeared on her face. Yugure looked at her friends, seeming quite confused as to what they were plotting right now. So, she prompted them to explain by wearing a look of confusion on her face.

"We're going to run to the corner store with them." Renge declared as she closed the door quietly.

"But aren't we going to lose if we don't?" Yugure asked, still seeming as confused as ever.

"They're out of the house, so it really doesn't matter whether or not we lose.." Renge pointed out.

"Wait, but what about when they come back after realizing we didn't run with them?" Chiyo questioned.

Renge then held up a pair of keys that had been laying haplessly by the doorstep the entire time," I wouldn't be so worried about that."

Hikaru led his friends to the back route that led to the corner store. The path itself however, wasn't as comfortable to walk as the regular one. Though, it was quicker this way, if you didn't mind the lack of a physical road and bushes just about everywhere. Hikaru hadn't gone down this path in such a long time, so it was a surprise to him that he remembered it when he did.

The boys lungs began to burn after a short while, which felt strange for them. Usually they would never tire out this quickly. But maybe it was because running on an uneven terrain, coupled with trying to smack an endless mass of bushes out of their way that they lost steam already.

"I thought that corner store was like three blocks away.." Kazuki panted as the group took a pause to catch their breath.

"It is..." Hikaru responded, causing Keiji to shout in an incredulous tone,

"Well how it's taking us so long to get there?!"  
"Maybe we just miss the exit out of this route.." Hikaru suggested as they all looked up to the very grey sky.

"It looks like a storm's setting up..." Kazuki observed warily," Maybe it's about time we head back."

"Nope, not happening.." Hikaru declared as he began to run again.

"Come on, we can always have the sleepover some other time.." Kazuki stated in a nonchalant voice, forcing Hikaru to stop running again.

" We actually can't..." Hikaru countered," Because, the both of you are always so busy with high-school so...who knows if we can for this again without one of guys being unable to make it?"

"It seems like a storm's about to come..." Yugure noted as she looked out the window of the living room. The group was now playing some dancing game on Renge's Wii and Kanari was failing miserably at the game while Renge and Chiyo were neck in neck.

Renge walked over to the window to look up at the sky with Yugure. It was indeed very, very grey and it appeared as if the sky was nothing more than just one giant cloud at the moment. Renge looked at the sky feeling a little regretful about kicking Hikaru out and now, she felt this undying need to do something about it.

"Let's go look for them." Renge declared as she got up from the couch she was sitting on with Yugure and led the girls outside. The girls followed along and everyone, including Renny and Topher were outside in the doorway of Renge's house.

"They shouldn't be that hard to find, assuming they just ran to the convenience store." Chiyo declared, receiving a look of disagreement from Renge.

"Something tells me he tried taking a detour..." Renge thought aloud,"..So, if that's the case, we should split up into two groups. Kanari, you, Yugure and Topher will look on the main road while me, Chiyo and Renny try looking through the alternate route."

"Got it." Kanari affirmed as she led Yugure and Topher to the main road. Renge then went back into the house to grab her keys and caught a glance of her board. Going by board would be faster, but, she could get hurt considering how inexperienced she was. But...time was of the essence. The thought of being unable to find Hikaru and his friends made Renge's heart sink. So she ended up taking the board with her and her hat as she ran out of the house.

"Follow me." Renge stated imperatively as she put on her hat.

Riding the board was indeed exhilarating but of course Renge, being the cautious person she was, only rode it on the sidewalk so when they reached a road, she stopped herself, picked up the board and jogged across the road. And, by the time they arrived at the rocky, unstable pathway that was Hikaru's potential detour, Renge decided to stop riding for a little while until they were met with a physical sidewalk again.

"Wow, we made in really good time.." Renge announced in surprise as she looked at her phone. She then looked around for Chiyo and Renny, who weren't anywhere to be found.

"Oops..." Renge said as she realized she must've gone too fast for them. She then tried calling Hikaru on his phone and waited patiently for him answer, but all she got was his answering machine. She sent about a hundred texts to him and still, nothing.

"That brat must've left his phone in the house!" Renge grimaced as Chiyo and Renny caught up to her.

"No sign of him yet huh?" Chiyo asked as she placed her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Renge shook her head, casting her eyes down dismally.

"Don't worry, we'll find him." Chiyo reassuring as she placed a hand on Renge's shoulder.

Renge nodded in agreement and the group continued to search for Hikaru and his group.

Meanwhile, Kanari and Yugure were running back and forth across the main road in search of Hikaru, already reaching the convenience store and unable to find any of the boys. Yugure was making sure to check every spot possible along the road while Kanari was checking the inside of the convenience store.

"Anything?" Yugure called out as Kanari walked out of the store with a white plastic bag slung over her forearm. Kanari shook her head and Yugure moaned, upset that they had to continue their search here when they were clearly nowhere to be found.

"Maybe they went back to the house, did you text Renge?" Kanari asked as she took out a box of sour watermelon slices from her bag.

"One of our groups would've saw them by then, and Renge would've texted me if that was the case." Yugure responded with a shrug.

Renge and Chiyo were close to reaching the exit that would lead to main road where the convenience would be across from. Renge exasperated a gigantic sigh and stopped riding her board again, placing on the ground and sitting on it frustratingly.

"How come we haven't found them yet?" Renge shouted as she hung her head backwards.

"Maybe they didn't come this way, maybe they did end up taking the main road." Renny suggested sounding only somewhat hopeful.

"But...Kanari would've texted me by now.." Renge pointed out, checking her phone if she received any texts from Kanari.

"Excuse me, what are you kids doing out here at this late hour?" A voice asked them. It sounded as if it belonged to some man in his forties and appearing before them was just that. He had a dog alongside him and a somewhat concerned look on his face as he looked at the girls.

"We're looking for my brother and his friends.." Renge explained timidly with a forced smile.

"Were there three of them? Around, fifteen or so?" The man asked.

"Yes! Have you seen them?" Renge questioned as she immediately stood up from off her board.

"Yeah, they were a little further up the path, but I can't assure that they'll still be there, they looked like they were looking for something..." The man remarked, with Renge groaning in response.

"Your dog seems very...alert." Chiyo remarked tonelessly as she watched the dog look around it's surroundings.

"Yeah, he's got an amazing nose, really good at finding things." The man declared, all of them now having an idea after he said that," Maybe he can find your brother! Do you have anything on you that smells like him?"

"Um, I don't think so..." Renge answered as she hung her head in disappointment, only to be shook almost violently by Chiyo. Chiyo pointed to her head and Renge lit up as she took it off in realization.

"Here!" Renge said as she held out the hat to the man's dog, who began to smell the hat.

"Think you can find him Buster?" The man asked his dog as he knelt down. Buster then began to lead the group in search of the boys. The group wasn't actually that far at all thankfully, but once they found Hikaru's group, a certain someone from Temptation appeared.

"Isn't that grand? You're all together and now..." Rishi said as he leapt down from a nearby tree, extracting the man's Inner Scholar in the process. He then snatched Renge's board away from her and turned it into a Delinquous.

"Delinquous!" Renge's monsterfied board bellowed.

"My...my board..." Renge said desolately as she watched her board morph into a Delinquous. She shook her head and snapped back to her senses, spinning her head to her brother's group.

"We gotta get out of here ok?" Renge declared, with Hikaru nodding vigorously in approval. Renge was about to lead them out but then somehow Rishi knocked the boys out cold in an instant.

"Your move, Pretty Cure." Rishi jeered as he narrowed his eyes at Renge and Chiyo.

Renge held out her pen and Chiyo followed suit, the two of them shouting out: Pretty Cure, study session!

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature introduced.

"The subject of generations past with tales that are sure to last, Cure History!" History introduced.

The Delinquous stared down the Cures and immediately darted up to them shortly after. History jumped up while Literature slid down between the Delinquous' legs to avoid contact with it. The Delinquous then spun around to face the girls.

"That was a little too close for comfort.." Literature noted, with History nodding in agreement.

History then called out, "Legacy Tem-!"

"Not so fast!" Literature interrupted as she held her arm out in front of History," You aren't using that attack just yet. You're going to need to recharge and there's only two of us here right now."

History sighed a soft sigh," Fine, Archaic Blaze!"

History set the Delinquous alight and it stood in place as it burned. But this time, the flames died out and now it began to chase after the girls. Literature ran at a break neck pace and suddenly help Cure History yelp from behind her.

"History!" Literature cried as she watched her fellow Cure dangle in the hands of the Delinquous.

"Now what shall you do?" Rishi asked, as he reached for a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Literature gritted her teeth, figuring now what about time she used that move she was intending to save for a little later.

"Poetic Jurisdiction!" She shouted as she leapt up and aimed her attack towards the Delinquous' arm. It shook around a bit and dropped History and then Literature attack again.

"Pretty Cure, Assassinating Diamante!" She shouted as the pale red diamond appeared and engulfed the Delinquous within it. The Delinquous was suffering from within the diamond and once the diamond disappeared, it looked rather defeated. But it still managed to swing an arm in the direction of Literature who was caught off-guard.

"Pretty Cure, Clear-cut Equalizer!" Literature heard a pair of shout from behind her, followed by a blast of green and blue energy appearing and smacking the Delinquous flat onto it's back.

Literature spun around and saw Cure Science and Cure Arithmetic standing in a tree behind her.

"Told ya they would find them." Arithmetic said to Science as the two leapt down from the tree.

The Delinquous stood up again and this time it tried cornering the girls into the edge of the so-called road that was right beside a lake.

"It's going to take a little more than this to try and corner us.." Literature declared as she held her hand out to preform an attack, but then realized, she was fully recharged yet. And so, the Delinquous then swooped down and picked her up in an instant, holding her with a most deadly vice grip.

"Lit!" Arithmetic called out from below as the Cures exchanged looks amongst themselves, trying to figure out what to do.

"Because of how she's held, we can't even try and attack it's arm without hitting her..." Science observed warily as the three of them stared at Literature in the Delinquous' grasp.

"We can just try and knock it down again.." Arithmetic whispered to the girls, keeping her eyes on the Delinquous. The Delinquous stood in place, looking as still as a statue.

"...It seems really resolute right now, I'm not sure if our attacks our going to do anything..." History commented in an unsure voice," But I guess it's at least worth a shot."

The three Cures tried to attack, but their efforts were fruitless, resulting in them needlessly tiring themselves out trying to rescue Literature. As her fellow Cures attacked, she watched the Delinquous while in grasp, beginning to feel like she was in the hands of an inanimate object. Literature watched her friends with sorrow as they continued to attack the Delinquous. She wanted to tell them that they could just stop, this obviously wasn't getting them anywhere. But then, what else could they do?

Literature then reminded herself that she always could've done something herself, despite being imprisoned by the Delinquous. She had been relying a little too much on others lately, and while it was ok at times, she figured had crossed that line between ok and unreasonable. She then came up with an idea, realizing that she was for the most part fully charged now. It was a little risky and incredibly dangerous, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She flashed the girls an expression that she hoped could be read as 'Stop attacking!' and the girls thankfully caught on.

She then took a deep breath and shouted," Pretty Cure, Assassinating Diamante!"

Her hands had been forced to be wrapped over her legs to entire time, so instead of a diamond being projected to the Delinquous, she instead was the target of her own attack. She fought against the urge to scream as volts of energy were getting blasted through her, enough to make the Delinquous drop her as it was getting hurt too, but not to her degree.

She dropped onto the ground and got up staggering, her whole body shaking from that attack. She looked over her shoulder to see how the Delinquous was holding up and found it on the ground, shaking as well.

"Now to finish things up." Literature declared, her heart still jolting from the shock.

"Pretty Cure, Language of Justice!" She cried as the atmosphere around them turned red. The Delinquous was purified instantly and the man's auburn Inner Scholar returned back to him and Rishi was nowhere to be found.

Literature stood on one knee, wondering if she'd be able to walk all the way home from here. Normally, she would never consider the walk to be so treacherous, but in her current condition, just the thought of it was killing her. She then decided to stand up swiftly but before she dropped to the ground, Arithmetic and Science grabbed hold of her.

"You've done enough for the day. " Arithmetic declared as they de-transformed, Chiyo waking up the boys.

When the group arrived at the doorsteps of the house, Renge faced Hikaru saying,

"I guess...you can have the living room and we'll take the basement."

"No, 'cuz I just thought of something." Hikaru said, " We can ask mom if we can use her room since it's big enough, plus it has two single beds and she can sleep in the guest room."  
"So, none of us will take the basement?" Renge asked, with Hikaru nodding in return," Now _that_ sounds like a plan."

The boys ran upstairs and Renge went to get her sleeping bag and some extra pillows, leaving the girls, along with Renny and Topher in the living room.

"Hey, I've been wanting to ask you two something..." Chiyo began as she stole a glance of Renny and Topher, who looked at her in a somewhat anxious manner.

"You two live with Renge here, so I've been wondering..." Chiyo stated,"...Have either of you developed a crush on her?"

Renny and Topher looked at each other and just laughed with the latter simply saying," Nah, she's kinda like a little sister to us."

"A little sister?" Kanari repeated, reminding herself that the pair of birds were older than all of them.

"Plus she has Nao." Renny mentioned.

"Nao?" Yugure repeated, seeming rather puzzled," Who's that?"

"Renge's partner." Chiyo answered, leaving Yugure seeming unusually surprised upon hearing this.

"Alright, I got the pillows right here!" Renge declared as she ran down the stairs.

Kanari took a pillow and koala hugged it as she took a Playstation controller from the table, turning the console on.

"Now, let's see what kinda games Hikaru's got on this thing..." Kanari declared as the Playstation turned on," If there are any fighting games here, I'm going against you Tofu."  
"You say that as if you're going to win." Topher sneered as he picked up the other controller on the table.

Renge suddenly heard a knock on the door and raced up to the door in an instant.

"Just who could that be?" Renge wondered as she opened the door, revealing Kokoro in the doorway.

"I hope I'm not too late.." Kokoro said sheepishly as she stood in the doorway.

"No, not at all!" Renge reassured," Come right in!"

"Sorry I'm a little late, I was trying to finish a project up for class." Kokoro apologized as she entered Renge's home.

"No, it's ok! The sleepover's just getting started anyways!" Renge declared as she closed the door behind Kokoro.

She led Kokoro inside and let her take off her shoes, unexpectedly leading her into quite the spectacle. In her living room was Kanari and Topher, fighting over a game and shouting at the top of their lungs with Yugure and Renny respectively cheering for them.

"Come on Kanari you got this!" Yugure cheered violently as Kanari mashed buttons relentlessly.

"You're going down Arithmetic!" Topher screamed as his character was beating up Kanari's.

"Finish her!" Renny shouted as Topher hit the buttons against the controller with his wings without missing a beat.

"You're toast Toph!" Kanari screamed triumphantly as her character was inches away from knocking out Topher's.

"Guys!" Renge called out, mouth agape in shock of what the group let transpire in front of Kokoro, who simply stood there in astonishment and absolute confusion.

"What?" They all shouted impatiently as they looked over to Renge and Kokoro. They all fell silent as their gaze fell to Kokoro, everyone now unsure of what to do.

Calmly, Renge ended up saying as she briskly led Kokoro to the couch," Allow me to do some explaining..."


	15. A happy clock and two unlikely duos

During the sleepover, Renge managed to tell Kokoro about the birds being able to talk and being from another land without telling her about the Pretty Cure. Just the memory of that night left her wanting to cringe, it could've all been avoided so easily and yet, it ended up with Kokoro finding out about Renny and Topher, but not about the Pretty Cure.

 _"So, Kokoro, as you may have noticed...we have actually have a pair of guests here that I failed to mention to you, ever." Renge began nervously as she fidgeted with her fingers._

 _"Hey there little guys, I won't hurt ya.." Kokoro assured in a soothing voice as she held out her index finger to them._

 _Very gingerly, both of the birds took to Kokoro and as they came to her, Kokoro smiled warmly to them._

 _"So, do you guys have names?" Kokoro asked softly, only half-expecting them to answer her after what just happened._

 _"Renny." Renny blurted out, receiving a wing to the stomach from Topher. Kokoro giggled, acting like this totally wasn't out of the norm._

 _"I knew I wasn't just seeing things.." Kokoro chuckled as she glanced over to Topher," And you have a name too, yes?"_

 _Topher looked at her and then casted his eyes down, unsure if she was really to be trusted. But eventually, Topher exhaled a small sigh and said,_

 _"The name's Topher."_

 _"They're very cute..." Kokoro beamed to Renge as she knelt down beside the birds. Renge looked at Kokoro, mouth agape, in complete shock as she watched Kokoro. Just how was she able to remain so calm? And why wasn't she asking a million questions about how they could talk?_

 _"So..." Kokoro began cheerfully as she began to shake hand, well hand and wing, with Renny," You aren't a species originating from this world are you?"_

 _Kanari clamped her mouth shut in surprise and Yugure yelped a little as she shook a taken aback Chiyo a little._

 _"You catch on fast..." Was all Renge could manage._

 _"No, we aren't..." Renny explained," We come from a land called Univer Kingdom, and we're from Univer City. Someone has taken something very precious to us and-"_

 _"-In order to get it back, they have to find the Pretty Cure to get rid of this someone so they can live in peace." Renge finished for Renny._

 _"So, they haven't been found yet?" Kokoro asked, with Renge shaking her head in response._

 _"Not yet, but they should be found soon." Renge declared._

 _"And, so...for now they're just staying at your place while they look for the Pretty Cure?" Kokoro interrogated, receiving yet another nod," So these Pretty Cure, what are they, like.. a group magical girls?"_

 _"I guess you could say that..." Topher answered uneasily._

 _"Well, if you ever need help to search for them, you can count on me!" Kokoro beamed in an assuring tone._

Renny and Topher commended Renge for omitting the fact that they were the Pretty Cure as now, their identities still remained a secret. Renge herself was surprised that she was able to think of doing such a thing at the time. She just knew having Kokoro know about them being the Pretty Cure could very well endanger her so, at least now that risk wasn't as outstanding.

Renge darted her eyes to the doorway of the classroom, hoping that her teacher would somehow be stalled in some way so that it would give enough time for the running-late Kanari to arrive before her. Renge let out one final soft sigh as she texted Kanari once more before putting her phone into sleep mode.

Just then, Kanari bolted into the classroom and hopped into her seat immediately, which just happened to be next to Renge again.

"Kanari, I think you might have to break this oversleeping habit of yours..." Renge whispered to Kanari with concern as she leaned over to her desk.

"I didn't oversleep!" Kanari yell-whispered in defense, still having a bad case of morning throat," Sayaka said she was going to be giving me a ride to school today but she never did! So I had to run all the way here!"

"Alright I believe you." Renge whispered back," Anyways, I was wondering if you could help me with something.."

Renge held out her last math test paper for Kanari to see, who was sporting a half-smirk mixed with a cringe on her face. Did she seem surprised? Not really, considering Kanari had always known Renge to possess a lack of comprehension when it came to Math.

"You want a tutor? Alright sure, but...what gives? If memory serves correctly, as long as you're passing you don't ever usually care about your grade when it comes to Math." Kanari reminded the ebony-haired girl as she took out her notebook.

"I told myself at the beginning of the year I was going to strive for better grades this year. Make it count, you know? And ever since the whole Pretty Cure thing happened the opposite's happened. Not to say I'm failing all my classes, it's just my Math and a bit of my Science grades have taken quite the descent because of it." Renge explained, staring down into her notebook absently as she folded her arms over her desk and rested her chin on them.

"Well, we've all got that subject we're not much good at. But to make up for it, we're really good at another subject to balance ourselves out I guess." Kanari stated with a shrug.

Renge lifted her head up to look at Kanari, with a curious look on her face," So what's your worst subject?"

"Does Home-ec count?" Kanari asked hesitantly," Because if not I might have to go with History. But don't tell Chichi-chan I said that."

Renge giggled a little and then slipped her test paper away into her notebook," Either way, my marks are getting ridiculous and I know I really don't want to find out what my mark for Math and Science is as of right now."

"Speaking of ridiculous..." Kanari began as a flock of girls, along with Toshie who should've been in her homeroom right now came into the classroom. They were gossiping about something as they walked in, and their voices then fell to a collective whisper.

"Did you guys hear about that new cafe that opened up in Ozawa District?" One of the girls said.

"Oh I have! I heard everything thing there is gourmet not to mention extremely classy!" Another girl chimed in.

"It's called the Happy Clock right?" Toshie asked.

The girl who mentioned the cafe nodded in an instant, and Kanari and Renge just had to exchange expressions of suspicion upon hearing this peculiar name.

"The Happy Clock?" Renge repeated inquisitively," Doesn't that sound a lot like...?"

"Wanna check it out this weekend?" Kanari then asked, only to be hushed by Renge. Renge nodded while keeping her eyes on the girls, listening for any more details.

"Girls, I suggest you get to your seats, and you Miss Ikeda, ought to be in your own homeroom by now." Ms. Yamamoto advised as she walked into the classroom. Toshie then left and homeroom began.

Later, during lunch Renge and Kanari told Yugure about the Happy Clock, unable to tell Chiyo simultaneously as she had disappeared to go have lunch with her own friends again. As they told Yugure about their suspicion, Yugure listened intently before realizing, she exactly know who they were talking about when they mentioned their suspect.

"Um, who's Jika?" Yugure asked in a clueless manner as she gnawed on of a piece of her apple.

Kanari then narrowed her eyes to Renge," Has she met her yet?"

"Yeah, she was there when we were trying to get Tsubaki to transform remember?" Renge informed," But come to think of it...did we even mention their names to you?"

"You did. Anyways, why do you think it's Jika who's running the cafe?" Yugure asked innocently.

"It seems suspicious, like it came out of nowhere and...just the name of the place makes it feel very...conspicuous." Renge explained to the best of her abilities.

"Alright, so then that means we'll just have to go on Saturday and investigate right?" Yugure inquired, receiving a pair of nods from Renge and Kanari.

"Oh wait! You were supposed to tutor me on Saturday!" Renge reminded the two of them, now unsure of what to do.

"We can just do it on Friday night." Kanari shrugged without a single care. Yugure then eyed the two of them very curiously.  
"Tutoring?" Yugure asked with uncertainty.

Kanari then patted Renge's head and stared at Yugure with a somewhat vacant look in her eye," Renge's very inept when it comes to math."

"Get your hand off of me!" Renge demanded as she ripped Kanari's hand away from her," And yeah, I'm trying to make my grades a little more attractive for University/College."

"Is that so?" Yugure asked with a slight, unintentionally condescending chuckle," Well, I need to head to class so I guess I'll see you guys on Saturday!" The girls waved goodbye and soon after, Kanari left Renge to go get a beverage from the drink machine outside. But, on her way there, she encountered the sole Pretty Cure who failed to attend their unofficial lunch meeting.

"Hey, sorry I wasn't able to make to your meeting. Me and my friends were planning to work on a project during lunch." Chiyo apologized as a mass of students began to walk by them in opposite directions as they headed to their classes. Despite the hall becoming uncomfortably crowded, Kanari managed to withstand it so she could tell Chiyo about the meeting.

"But I was wondering..." Chiyo then piped up before Kanari could make the request, turning her head to the side with her eyes casted away from Kanari," Do you want to go shopping with me Ishitani mall on Saturday?"

Kanari looked at Chiyo with her eyes wide-opened with complete surprise. She would've never ever expect Chiyo to ask her to accompany her in shopping. Her, of all people, why ask her?

"What about your friends from your grade?" Kanari then questioned.

"A lot of kids in my grade are going on a hike this weekend, and so far, this is the only weekend I'll have off from work for the next little while. " Chiyo explained," I need to buy something formal for this social thing my dad's been invited to. But, I don't have anything of the caliber for this kind of event."

"Well, that's a little surprising." Kanari admitted with a smirk, now picturing Chiyo in a cocktail dress.

"So are you going to come or not?" Chiyo asked as her patience was wearing thin, plus she also had to get to class.

"Ok, see you then." Kanari declared as she watched Chiyo leave for her class in a hurry, not yet realizing what she just did.

But then, Kanari spun around "Oh shoot, um wait Chi-!"

Chiyo was literally nowhere to be found, with the mass of students flooding the hallway now it would be pointless to try and seek her out. Kanari sighed, deciding that texting her may have been a better idea as she walked in the opposite direction to her classroom.

Later on in the day, after school, Kanari walked with Renge to this bus stop to explain to her what had happened during lunch.

Kanari began in a mildly hasty manner as she held her hands in front of herself in defense, "So I'll just text her to cancel the-"

"-You don't have to." Renge declared nonchalantly to a now astonished Kanari as she shrugged her shoulders. The bus arrived a few seconds later and the girls got on.

"But, what about you and Yugure?" Kanari asked suspiciously as she took out her bus pass.

"We can probably handle it, besides, you and Chiyo haven't really hung out one on one that much." Renge pointed out candidly.

"I guess you make a good point, but I'm still not sure.." Kanari admitted as she scratched the back of her head.

"Then we'll get Renny and Topher's opinion on the matter." Renge declared. When they arrived at Renge's house, they were greeted with the smell of brownies flowing throughout the main floor. The living room was spotless, a condition it hadn't been in for a couple of days now. It seemed today that Sanae decided to work on doing what she loved most, aside from her children; cleaning.

"Hikaru! Mom?" Renge called out, the house seemingly vacant as of right now while Kanari peered into the kitchen to check if anyone aside from them was here.

"Oh, Hikaru stayed back at school to finish up a project and as for mom..." Renge said as she speed-walked into the kitchen, finding a note written by her mom," She went to go get groceries, ok then."

The girls then went to the living room, Kanari sprawling herself on the three-seater and Renge perching on the love-seat.

"Renny, Topher come down here!" Renge shouted in a somewhat obnoxious tone. The pair of birds did as told and flew down, both of them choosing to sit on the table.

"Is something the matter?" Renny asked as the girls stared down to him.

"Not entirely," Renge responded, now unsure of what exactly she was going to say," It's just...we heard about this new cafe at school and it sounds a little...peculiar."

"How so?" Topher questioned with a very slight tilt of his head.

"It's called the Happy Clock," Kanari answered in a dead pan tone as she rested her arm on the arm rest.

"Me and Yugure were planning to go and investigate this weekend while Kanari and Chiyo handle some...other affairs." Renge declared, her voice sounding less like she was stating and more like she was asking for permission.

Topher simply nodded in approval while Renny, with a wry smile on his face, responded," Unlikely pairs..."

"He's right.." Kanari commented, the thought only occurring to her now upon hearing that. Renge merely shrugged, not feeling like the matter wasn't much of an issue.

On Saturday, Renge arrived at the front of the Happy Clock within about ten minutes or so, the cafe not being far from her house as it was only twenty minutes by foot. She looked around her surroundings and took a deep breath. Ozawa district, a truly thriving place in the city, though the thought of it being so trendy had never occurred to Renge for the longest time, despite living so close to it all her life. The district was brimming with people, but it wasn't uncomfortable crowded thankfully and the populace seemed to consist of mostly young adults, all having a rather urbanized, almost hipster look to them. Usually whenever Renge went out into the Ozawa district, she would try and look her best, and today was no exception. She wore a pair of black jeans with a bright red cowl-neck shirt under a denim coat. She wore her hair in a new style that she had been dying to try out for the last couple of days that consisted of her hair being held up and styled into a ponytail that made her hair look a lot shorted than it seemed. It looked cool, and it made her wonder if she would be able to make anyone think she'd cut her hair, but it wasn't likely that would as the ends of her hair were still salmon pink. Checking her phone for the time, Renge stood on her tip-toes to see if she could spot out anyone in the crowd ahead of her that looked like Yugure. Renny was right, these were some unlikely duos today, she couldn't ever recall spending any time with Yugure by herself. The thought intimidated her a little, but then she remembered it was only Yugure so whatever feelings of intimidation she felt before dispersed immediately.

"Renge!" A very familiar voice called from behind her.

Yugure was running up to her and waving her hand to grab her attention. Yugure was dressed in a pale blue cardigan with a black tank top and dark purple tiered skirt with a pair of white socks that stretched to her knees. Slung over her shoulder was a large tote bag with a galaxy-print on it and it appeared to be falling off said shoulder a bit as she ran. To complete her outfit, she wore a pair of lilac high-heels unapologetically as she already was somewhat tall for her age, at least taller than Renge and Kanari.

"Hey Yugure!" Renge greeted, now feeling somewhat awkwardly setting into her," Did you have any trouble getting here?"

"No, thankfully!" Yugure beamed," So, wanna go in now?"

"Might as well." Renge shrugged as she opened the door to the Happy Clock.

Kanari got out of Chiyo's car in a stiff manner, standing up and closing the door like a robot whilst trying to make little to no eye contact with Chiyo as she thought about how much more skilled and valuable Chiyo was in comparison to her. She hung her head and attempted to regain composure, nearly swallowing her gum as she tried to pull herself together. Maybe this was a bad idea, not coming with Chiyo to a mall just, going to _this_ mall. Ishitani was literally the most high-end mall in all of town, as well as the largest one. Kanari had heard many, many things about it and while the thought of looking at bags priced at two-thousand dollars interested her to some degree, any interest she had in coming here had been outweighed by the sinking feeling of how many rich looking, classy people would be here. Kanari looked down at her outfit in regret, wishing she didn't dress like she was thirteen years old today. She wore her trademark teal sweater but in the place of her shorts were a pair of puzzle-print leggings. Her hair, tied into a fishtail braid was being tugged at by none other than herself as she tried to stop psyching herself out.

"Ready?" Chiyo asked as she stepped out of the car. Kanari looked at the Ishitani mall feeling already over-whelmed, and now a little guilty that Chiyo had to be accompanied by her while the younger girl was looking so mature and pretty. She dressed in muted, neutral tones, her only pop of colour being her sheer pale pink and black colour block tank top. And her hair was straightened today and wore all on the left side of her head,

"I guess so." Kanari shrugged tensely, feeling just about ready to die.

"Something the matter?" Chiyo asked with concern that Kanari really wasn't expecting.

"Nothing it's just...I feel bad for being so under-dressed.." Kanari admitted as she looked at Chiyo sheepishly.

"You look fine." Chiyo declared tonelessly as she slammed the door shut on her car, causing Kanari to look at her in surprise, now putting on a seductive look as she inched near her.

"And what do you mean by... _fine?_ " Kanari questioned as she elbowed Chiyo, she put her hand over Kanari's face.

"Don't ruin the day before we go into the mall." Chiyo ordered, her hand still over Kanari's face.

Chiyo and Kanari walked into the mall, Kanari being absolutely astounded by her surroundings while Chiyo contained any feelings of amazement as the pair looked at the interior of the mall. Countless high-end, expensive stores, stores Kanari only heard of in movies and songs were all lined up beside each other and each store attracted an insanely large crowd into them. The halls were alive with many types of people, some being part of demographic that Kanari would've never imagined being here, such as large families and regular teenagers not unlike themselves.

"Oh my god, it's like every fancy store you could ever think of is in here..." Kanari remarked as she looked at the stores before her, receiving a simple nod from Chiyo in response. Kanari then pulled Chiyo along by the wrist to the mall directory a few feet away from them.

"Look, they've got Aizuki, Kagura, and Gina Kanomiya..." Kanari listed off as she looked at the store's directory," I thought these stores were just made up! Can we go into one of them?"

"I don't see why not, I do need a really nice-looking dress anyways..." Chiyo mentioned before being yanked by Kanari to the direction of Gina Kanomiya.

"So, I heard that this cafe literally open up only a week ago and it's already attracted one of the largest crowds Ozawa district has ever seen in such a short amount of time.." Renge mentioned in a whisper as the walked into the cafe. The scent of brewing coffee and cake filled their lungs, making the two of them exhale a sigh in delight and pleasure. Both of their stomachs rumbled after that and they both laughed. There were a lot of people as expected and the cafe seemed to be having a lunch rush right now. The girls looked for a table and found a booth next to the window. The booth looked rather untouched, like nobody had sat there all day. The girls sat down and looked at the menu, feeling so compelled to buy literally every dessert their eyes met. Everything just looked so good, from the white chocolate raspberry frosted cheesecake to the upside pineapple cake that came with a frosted sugar cookie. Even the drinks looked extremely tempting for the both of them.

"Ooh, they've got crepes here!" Renge cheered in delight as she scanned the menu," What do you think you're going to get, Yugure?"

"I have no idea, I honestly want everything.." Yugure admitted sheepishly as she put the menu down for a moment.

"The cheesecake looks really good.." Renge suggested to Yugure, who was actually now looking at the Belgian waffles.

"I know...goodness, I didn't think my toughest decision I have to make today was going to be what I want from this place!" Yugure exclaimed as she looked over the menu once more.

"This cake looks delicious.." Renge commented as she pointed to an angel food cake with vanilla cream drizzling from it.

"Renge, they _all_ look delicious." Yugure stated with a chuckle as she exasperated out a frustrated sigh.

"I'm just trying to help.." Renge declared in defense as she put her menu down, knowing what she was going to order.

"You two know you didn't come here just to eat right?" Renny asked from inside Renge's bag. Renge waved a hand in dismissal as pushed her bag away from her.

"You don't know how to have fun do you?" Renge asked with a giggle," That reminds me, I've been wanting to ask you...how come Topher can transform into a human and you can't?"

"That's not it." Renny responded flatly from inside the bag," I just don't use my human form as often as he does."

"So, you do have a human form, but you're just not comfortable with it?" Yugure asked as she continued to look through the menu,"That's reasonable."

"I'll believe it when I see it." Renge declared before their waitress walked up to them to take their order.

"Hello, welcome to the Happy Clock!" She greeted in a painfully cheerful tone," Have you ladies decided on what you'll be having today?" The waitress wore an adorable outfit that resembled a maid's outfit, it's color scheme consisting of dark blues and a hint of gold here and lace-trimmed just about everywhere. Her hair was gathered into low twin-tails and, the most interesting part of her outfit was a headband with a golden clock face on it.

Thankfully, Renge caught herself staring at the waitress' headband before the waitress herself did and grabbed the menu in a near frantic manner," I'll have a sugar and spice crepe with no whip cream."

"And for you?" The waitress asked Yugure after she took down Renge's order.

"I'll have a slice of the salted caramel chocolate cake." Yugure ordered, feeling at peace for finally being able to decide on something.

"Alright, I'll have those ready for you in a couple of minutes, in the meantime I'll get you ladies some glasses of water." The waitress informed the girls," And don't forget, even if your cake's half-eaten and you haven't touch your cup, once the thirty minute-mark comes your time is up!"

Renge and Yugure looked at each in question, with the former asking the waitress," I beg your pardon?"

"Oh, you don't know about the cafe policy?" The waitress asked the girls," Each group is entitled thirty minutes to eat at our cafe, and then if they aren't finished by that half-hour, they have to leave. Unless, they bring a another person, then they can have an extra fifteen minutes."

"Renge, I don't think I want to wolf down a cake like that in thirty minutes!" Yugure yell-whispered across the booth.

"Ok, I understand now. Thank you." Renge beamed," So then, does that mean each person is entitled for fifteen minutes as an individual?"

"No, each person and group that enters initially is entitled to half an hour, anyone who arrives after an order's been placed is entitled to fifteen minutes." The waitress responded neutrally," I'll go get your glasses of water."

"So what are we going to do? Call Kanari and Chiyo?" Yugure asked, seeming to be a little in distress now.

"No, I don't wanna to bother them.." Renge declared sounding a tad disconnected as she scanned through contacts in her phone.

"Maybe you should bring Kokoro and Nao..." Yugure suggested in a forcefully casual tone," That way we'll be able to have a whole extra half-hour!"

"Kokoro's on a hiking trip this weekend, but I could try and see if I could bring Nao along..." Renge stated as she started to type a message telling the latter to come," But that whole thirty minute policy...isn't it a little strange?"

Yugure nodded her head vigorously in response," But, at least they have really good food here, I even saw macarons in the shape of cats on the menu."

"I love macarons!" Renge commented enthusiastically as she stood up a little in her seat," You know where's a good place to get them?"

Yugure leaned in closer,appearing to be very interested," No, where?"

"There's a bakery on Katagiri road that literally makes the best macarons in town, I should take you there one of these days!" Renge cheered.

"I'd love to go!" Yugure replied brightly before a boy walked up to their booth.

The boy had dark brown skin and hazel eyes with dark orange hair. He was quite tall and he wore a pastel orange dress shirt with a pair grey slacks and black loafers. Renge and Yugure looked at him for a couple of moments, an awkward silence forming.

After a while, Renge finally asked him," Do we know you?"

"I was hoping you would." The boy said, a cynic undertone detectable in his voice.

Yugure's mouth hung open for a second in realization and she put her hand over it in shock," Oh my gosh Renge I think it's-!"

"-Oh my gosh it is." Renge interrupted," Renny, you look just like Topher! Except you're a ginger..."

"But wait, this is a good thing! Now we can get another fifteen minutes!" Yugure cried.

"You're right, sit down.." Renge said imperatively as she moved herself to let Renny crawl into the inner seat of their side of the booth," But, we were talking about macarons?"

Kanari and Chiyo walked out of a store called Hanabi and Kanari looked as if she'd just been drained of half her life force, despite not spending a single penny.

"I can't believe we watched that woman spend four-thousand dollars on clothes..." Kanari groaned in shock.

"But it was kinda funny..." Chiyo admitted," Some people will spend any amount of money to look and feel a certain way. When it doesn't really matter in the long run."

"You're one to talk." Kanari remarked flatly, stopping herself from walking any further.

"Excuse me?" Chiyo asked, awkwardly trying to giggle off the statement.

"You're the one who wanted to go to this stupidly expensive mall and buy stuff for some event!" Kanari pointed out, adding in a chuckle in hopes that her remark didn't sound too bitter.

"It's just one dress." Chiyo reminded Kanari with a little smirk," Besides, there's a difference between wanting to look nice in an expensive dress and spending in excessive amounts on clothes that'll either never be touched or worn every couple of days, losing their original significance."

"So...does that mean you're only going to wear this dress for the one night?" Kanari interrogated, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Not necessarily. I mean, as long as it suits whichever occasion I need it for, I guess I can use it..." Chiyo thought aloud," But...that doesn't mean I'm willing to spend an outrageous amount of cash on it."

"Then why are we here?" Kanari questioned in a tone that was bordering on irritating.

But, instead of nagging Kanari as the white-haired girl assumed, she simply said,"It's fun looking at these clothes and laughing at their prices. Plus, there are a few reasonable stores in this place. Follow me." Chiyo extended her hand and without question, Kanari took it.

Chiyo led her to a little corner in the mall where there were some less-known stores found here. While these stores weren't as widely-recognized as the ones from before, she had to admit, they actually appeared to be for the most part regular stores with fashions nicer than the ones she saw at all those other expensive stores.

"This one's a favourite of mine," Chiyo declared as the two of them walked into a store called Kaida.  
The store felt a little more welcoming and less intimidating than the other stores the girls had been into today but was just as crowded as the previous ones. Despite the store being so big, it seemed everyone chose to cluster around one certain spot with a giant red sign mark sale above it.

"Isn't that something?" Kanari remarked as Chiyo was looking through a rack of dresses near them.

"These dresses look nice." Chiyo stated as she held up a pair of dresses, one black with a dual shoulder strap design and another that was gold with long sleeves.

"Hm, wearing two dresses simultaneously, a bold choice indeed..." Kanari expressed as she stroked her chin.  
"I'm not going to wear them at the same time!" Chiyo responded, raising her voice slightly," I'll try them both on."

The girls located an associate who led them to a change room. Kanari sat on a bench outside of the change room and waited patiently as Chiyo tried on one of the dresses. A few moments later, Chiyo emerged from the change room wearing the gold dress. It was sleek and accentuated her curves greatly, though she appeared to feel a little uncomfortable in it.

"Too tight?" Kanari guessed as Chiyo looked down at the dress.

"No, it just really...different. I guess I'm just not used this style, but I still like it." Chiyo stated as she went back into the change room.

Chiyo tried on a the other dress and came out from the change room again. It wasn't really something Kanari would've imagined Chiyo in but it still looked quite nice on her regardless. This time, she seemed a tad bit more comfortable too.

"Well, how do you feel?" Kanari asked casually as Chiyo spun around in the dress, fascinating by the skirt twirling around as she did so.

"It seems too...juvenile, don't you think?" One of the associates commented as she examined Chiyo from head to toe with a skeptic look on her face.

Chiyo looked down at herself, feeling a little embarrassed now," I guess..."

The associate walked away and Chiyo returned to the change room to put on her regular clothes. When Chiyo left the change room, she looked down at the gold dress in a somewhat unsure manner.

"Guess I'll just get this one." Chiyo declared as she looked at the gold dress.

"Wait a minute!" Kanari declared as she stepped in front of Chiyo," You shouldn't let that woman's opinion affect you choice."

Chiyo stared down at the two dresses she held in her hand, seeming even more unsure.

"Chi, did you like the second dress?" Kanari asked her in a near stern manner.

"Yeah I did.." Chiyo admitted as she held the black dress tightly in her hand.

"Then go with that one, if that's the one you liked in the first. If you feel happy in it, you shouldn't let someone else's opinions drag you down." Kanari declared.

"You're right," Chiyo responded as she went to the cashier," I was planning to buy the both of them anyways."

Kanari eyes narrowed as the two of them waited in the line, surrounded by people and racks with random impulse buy jewelry. In the line, a pair of seahorse earrings caught Kanari's eye. She took a closer look at them as she took them from the rack.

"Interesting..." Kanari noted as she held them to the light.

"Want me to buy them for you?" Chiyo asked as she joined Kanari in looking at the earrings.

"Nah, I got my own money," Kanari declined as the two walked up to the cashier.

"Are you two paying separately?" The cashier asked as she scanned Chiyo's dresses. The girls nodded and Chiyo paid for her purchase with her debit card.

"And you're total is going to be Eight dollars and sixteen cents." The cashier finalized as she scanned Kanari's earrings. Kanari then reached for her wallet in her pocket, emptying it out of the loose change she managed to ransack her house of. It appeared that she was only able to collect around six dollars and ninety seven cents unfortunately. She then checked her pocket for some more loose change. Empty-handed after that search, she then proceeded to look through her sweater pocket.

"Kanari, people are starting to stare.." Chiyo whispered as she leaned closer to her.

"Eh, let them..." Kanari replied in dismissal, feeling a single coin in her pocket.

"I'll pay for these." Chiyo concluded as she held out her card. She paid for Kanari's earrings and the two of them walked out of the store.

Kanari held her little bag and said awkwardly to Chiyo," Um...thanks."

"Anytime." Chiyo responded as she led the two of them to a bench," By the way, thanks for coming with me today. I'm glad you came, otherwise this outing would've been quite lonely."

The two sat in silence after Kanari mumbled a 'you're welcome' to Chiyo.

To Renge and Yugure's surprise, they actually hit it off and now they were talking about crepes and their favourite types of crepes.

"It took me a couple of months, but I found my favourite crepe after a couple of tries." Renge declared," My first crepe was way too sweet, my next one was too filling but then my next one suited me perfectly like it was made just for me."

"I'm pretty sure it was made for you." Renny deadpanned.

"That's not what I meant." Renge hissed," Anyways, my favourite crepe is the one I just ordered. It's light on it's fillings and that gives you more freedom to enjoy the crepe itself in all it's goodness and appreciate the finery of the dessert."

"Wow, I never quite thought of it like, but you're right! If you don't buy the right crepe on the first go, you may end up getting turned off by crepes forever, which would suck.." Yugure responded," You're such a foodie Renge!"

"Irony is, I have a pretty small stomach.." Renge admitted with a giggle," Oh shoot! I forgot, I was suppose to try and study a little while we were here!"

"Weren't you going to study with Kanari last night?" Yugure asked as she sipped on her water.

"I did, but that was Math. Now I've got some physics stuff to work on..." Renge groaned as she took out her textbook from her purse. She stared down at the now open textbook looking very, very lost. She took a gulped and sighed as she slammed her head on the desk.  
"I don't know how to do any of this!" Renge cried.

"Maybe I can help..." Yugure offered as she gestured Renge to come sit next to her. Renge and Yugure both glowered down to the textbook, Yugure working on the scrap piece of paper Renge supplied her with. She scribbled and scribbled for so long, Renge was getting worried she was going to run out of paper. She then looked at Yugure, who seemed slightly unsure of herself and then Renge realized, she had been trying to solve the question over three times now. Relentlessly, Yugure flipped the page and began to work on the back of it. Finally, Yugure came up with the solution and drew out a very long sigh of relief while sliding the paper to Renge.

"There you go..." Yugure said as she laid her head against the table.

Renge held the sheet of paper in her hands incredulously," I could've never reached the answer like this! Thanks a bunch..."

"No problem, I'd like to say it was easy but I really can't..." Yugure said sheepishly.

"Physics has always been really challenging for me, so I don't think I would've ever even thought to do this.." Renge commented.

"Physics is definitely not everyone's strong suit, but there is one person I know who really sucked at Physics, no matter how hard I tried helping him.." Yugure declared tiredly with a giggle.

"And who was that?" Renge asked as she placed the page on the table.

"My old boyfriend, Shigeru Endo.." Yugure responded as she lifted her head off from the table, now staring at it absently.

Renge choked on her water that she was previously sipping and looked at Yugure with a mixture of emotions flowing into her. She wasn't sure if she was feeling, jealous, angry, surprised or a mixture of all three and so she merely sputtered out,

"You d-d-dated...Shigeru?" Renge asked.

"Yeah in second year...why?" Yugure asked innocently as Renge went back to her side of the booth.  
"Oh it's just...I kinda had a pretty big crush on him in first year.." Renge confessed shyly.

Yugure replied with,"Oh you did? I...I'm sorry that I-"

"You don't have to be sorry, we probably didn't suit each other anyways.." Renge responded.

"But...at least you have Nao!" Yugure mentioned as if trying to cheer Renge up.

"You're right." Renge responded bashfully as she reddened," Speaking of which, just where is Nao? I don't think we're going to have enough time for him to show up."

Just then, Nao dashed into the cafe and in front of the girls' booth.

"Did I make it in time?" Nao asked, panting a little.

"Yes, with only a minute to spare." Renny answered as he looked down at his watch. Yugure eyed him very curiously in confusion as he sat down next to Yugure.

"How nice of you to show up.." Renge responded as she stuck her tongue out to him. He squinted at her and motioned her to give him a menu.

"Oh! Renge, this is Nao...your boyfriend?" Yugure asked cautiously.

Renge nodded with a look of questioned appearing on her face,"Um, why did you-?"

"You thought I was a girl right?" Nao asked, as if he'd been expecting that of her.

Yugure laughed sheepishly and responded," Yeah sorta..."

Renge asked curiously as Nao looked through the menu,"Does this kinda thing happen to you oft-?"

"-All the time." Nao interrupted, not missing a beat," By the way, I don't think we've been introduced..."

Renny looked at Nao as he tried to think of a human alias," Ren Toriumi..."

"Nice to meet you Ren..." Nao said as he placed the menu on the table.

Jika sat on the rooftop of the Happy Clock, feeling absolutely elated as she rested her head against the railing. Zephora leaned against the railing alongside her as Jika looked off into the distance dreamily.

"Isn't this amazing?" Jika asked in a relaxed yet cheerful tone as she watched a swarm of customers enter the cafe.

"If by amazing you mean absurd then, yes it is...amazing." Zephora responded flatly as she looked in the opposite direction that Jika was looking at.

"Bite your tongue! This place is everything I could've ever hoped for..." Jika claimed as she thought about all those happy customers she saw earlier eating all those cute desserts her cafe served.

"While you did manage to obtain quite a few Inner Scholars with this little stint of yours, I must ask...why a cafe?" Zephora interrogated.

"I'm not sure myself..." Jika replied absent-mindedly as she looked up to the sky," It's just something I just thought up of...but the weird thing is..everything about this cafe, from the name, to the uniform to the desserts and layout...it all just came to me. As if I'd been planning it for a very long time..Isn't that just so strange?"

Zephora nodded and then stared at Jika suspiciously as she continued to watch over the cafe.

"But I guess now would be a good time to create a Delinquous to search for some more Inner Scholars..." Jika said reluctantly as if she dreaded the thought while stretching.

"Good luck," Zephora said as she vanished back to Temptation.

Jika materialized at the inside of her cafe, looking at it while drawing out a long sigh. The idea of her cafe getting destroyed in the process almost...hurt her and she wasn't very sure as to why. But, it had to be done it just had to. For the good of Temptation, it had to.

So, to keep this from hurting her anymore, she turned her face away as she opened her fists, revealing four corrupted Inner Scholars from her hands. She looked at a pair of soft serve ice-cream servers at the side accompanied by two blenders.

"Run amok, Delinquous." She said as she fused all four of the Inner Scholars with the ice-cream servers and blenders.

"Delinquous!" The four of them cried in unison. Jika's guests ran for their lives out of the cafe as the Delinquous came towards them, extracting the Inner Scholars of those they were able to grab. Countless people fell to the ground from being separated from their Inner Scholars. All of Jika's innocent customers were punished for absolutely nothing. It almost pained Jika to watch all of this.

"So...how exactly do you know Renge?" Nao asked Renny, who nearly panicked yet again.

"Cousins!" Renge blurted out," We're...cousins!"

Suddenly the Delinquouses appeared and the group looked over the group of the Delinquouses in fear.

"Heh, I almost forgot why we came here..." Renge smirked as she reached for her pen in her pocket while one of the Delinquous threw the tables to the side.

"Um, Nao we should really get out of here!" Renny cried as he led Nao out to the front door. Ever so reluctantly, Nao followed along without saying a single word.

"I just texted Chiyo and Kanari." Yugure affirmed as she held out her pen.

Renge nodded and the two held out their pens together and shouted with an ensemble of red and green lights surrounding them shortly after,

"Pretty Cure, study session!"

"The subject of writing and awe-striking empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

"The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!" Science announced.

Jika looked over to the girls and flatly called out," How come there's only half of you here today?"

"The others are on their way!" Literature shouted as she darted up to one of the soft-served machine Delinquouses. The Delinquous shot out a scoop of ice-cream towards her. She ducked and looked back towards it forlornly as it was her favourite flavour, peanut-butter chocolate.

Science took a few steps back cautiously as one of the blender Delinquouses came inching up towards her. It cornered her against wall with a window on it and without wasting another second, she shouted.

"Pretty Cure, Atomic Pressure!"

The blender was blasted to the side but then the other blender emerged from nowhere and entrapped her inside out of it. Before she could even try to get out, the blender shut it's lid on her. She banged her fists against the glass angrily, knowing that trying to use any attack here wouldn't do her any good at all.

"Ah yes, there's a new Pretty Cure in town..." Jika reminded herself as she walked up to the Delinquous hold Science captive," A little no-good science girl. A nuisance who would rather isolate herself in the world of science, where no one can even fathom to understand just what she does or why she does it. A little know-it-all who thinks she's better than everyone because she's good at Science."

Suddenly, Jika was nearly hit with a flock of writing quills. She ducked just in time as she heard them coming.

"What the hell would make you think that?" Literature spat as she fended off one of the ice-cream serving Delinquouses," Cure Science may be good at a subject where a majority of people seem to suck at, but that doesn't make her a stuck-up know it all! If anything, she's the opposite of all that!"

"Literature..." Science began, taking a halt from bashing her fists against the glass.

Literature then gave her a wink and nod, as if indicating that she was about to do something that required her. Science seemed a little confused, but she trusted her nonetheless. Literature then got a hold of the Delinquous and spun it around, throwing it towards the blender that entrapped Science.

The blender toppled over and Science kicked open the lid. She escaped from the clutches of the Delinquous and shouted to Jika,

"You're the one who's stuck-up! Not to mention a total sadist, making a cafe just to steal a bunch of Inner Scholars from innocent people who just want to eat desserts!"

Jika balled her fists upon hearing that, it made her blood boil just hearing her say such a thing. But, she controlled herself and said nothing in response because, Science was partially right.

"You two!" Jika shouted to the ice-cream serving Delinquouses. The two of them looked at her and she signaled them to do something.

The ice-cream serving Delinquouses shot out two ice-cream cones and entrapped the girls separately within them. Science looked around in fear a while Literature just began to try and wear down the cone, figuring it should've been just as breakable as a regular cone.

Jika then felt all those frustrated, regretful feelings from before subside within her as she looked at the scene in front of her. Maybe, this wasn't such a bad plan after all. She did at least get to have a successful cafe. And to top it all off, she had collected so many Inner Scholars in such a short amount of time! A feat neither of her fellow denizens could've even hoped to accomplish.

"Maybe something good really did come out of this.." Jika thought aloud as she pulled up a fainted customer who still possessed their Inner Scholar.

"Not so fast!" A voice shouted just before Jika extracted the Inner Scholar from the customer.

Jika shot her head up and found the two remaining Cures standing in the doorway.

"This ends now." History declared sternly as she and Arithmetic leapt up to the two blender Delinquouses.

"But wait, where's Sci and Lit?" Arithmetic asked as she and History began to spar with the two blender Delinquouses.

"In here!" Arithmetic and History heard what sounded like Literature cry from a giant ice-cream cone they didn't notice up until now.

Arithmetic and History dashed over to the cones and broke their fellow Cures free.

"Thanks..." Science said as they all returned to battle.

The Cures each fought one Delinquous on their own, which was proving now to be harder than they ever imagined. They fought long and hard but soon, each of them were knocked off their feet after one quick delivered from each of their Delinquouses.

"You should just spare yourself the pain and stay down!" Jika barked bitterly as she watched them each struggle to their feet.

"Not happening..." Literature spoke for the rest of the team,"...Not now, not in a million years.."

Literature and Science then stood together facing the ice-cream serving Delinquouses while History and Arithmetic faced the blenders. The two pairs fought against the Delinquouses as two teams and battled against the Delinquous in sync. They soon ended up knocking the Delinquouses to their feet but the Delinquouses still seemed to have a lot of stamina remaining.

"I have an idea..." Arithmetic stated as she glanced over to History.

"Same here..." Literature commented.

Literature and Science stood with their backs against each and held out their hands.

"Pretty Cure...Big Bang Ballad!" Literature and Science shouted, with an army of gigantic green atoms and with writing quills in their center aimed to the ice-cream serving Delinquouses.

"Pretty Cure...Binomial Chronicle!" Arithmetic and History shouted in unison with a mass of flaming geometric shapes launching from their hands to the blender Delinquouses.

The Delinquouses were down and now all that was left was to purify them.

"Pretty Cure, Language of Justice!"

"Pretty Cure, Problem-solving Paradox!"

"Pretty Cure, Ancient Revolution!"

"Pretty Cure, Covalent Antidote!"

Each Delinquous was purified and the atmosphere around them was red, blue, yellow and green. The blenders and soft-served machines returned to normal, but the cafe was still in shambles. The girls watched the Inner Scholars return to their respective owners while Jika stood there angrily in defeat.

"It's...ruined.." Jika gasped out before disappearing.

"Such a shame to see this place demolished. It had the one of the cakes I've ever had in my entire life!" Yugure stated with a small sigh.

"There'll be other cafes.." Kanari stated as she folded her arms behind her head.

Meanwhile, Jika and Zephora were at the rooftop of the cafe again. Jika curled up in a ball and now completely unresponsive, too deep in thought as she thought about her beloved cafe.

After watching Jika wallow in her sorrows than longer than she expected, Zephora knelt down to Jika and told her in a strict voice,

"I understand that you're upset about the loss of your cafe. But running little businesses is not what we're here for. We're here to find the book of Omnipotence using the tracking ability of the Delinquous. So please, stand up and channel all that anger of yours into power and use that power to destroy the Pretty Cure."

Jika sniffled, while standing up," Got it..."


	16. I challenge you to a cook-off!

Yet another bright and and unusually warm day was bestowed onto the town during this weekend. And of course, Kanari's father and Renge's mom decided that they were going to take advantage of this beautiful as everyone knew there would definitely not be much more of these to come. It was more than peculiar to have such a warm and sunny day during this final week of November but did group the complain? Absolutely not. Renge was very surprised upon finding out that she could wear her shorts in this weather. It felt like she hadn't wore them in what felt like an eternity. She looked outside of the van and watched as a group of teens who seemed about two years junior to her play soccer out on the field. It seems everyone was celebrating this sudden rise in climate in their own little way, including Renge and Kanari's parents.

"So, Hikaru my boy, How's high school been going for ya?" Tadaki, Kanari's dad asked while driving. Tadaki was very tall and had dark brown brown hair like his eldest daughter Sayaka, who sat sandwiched in the back seat with Hikaru and her own little brother Ando.

"Uh, good." Hikaru responded abruptly as he fidgeted with his seatbelt.

"You're going with the girls to Seinori right? Such a grand school. I remember going there when I was your age. Those were some of the times of my lives.." Tadaki reminisced, causing Sanae to roll her eyes.

"Dad, did you meet mama there?" Ando asked in the middle of the backseat. Ando had blonde hair like Kanari once had and the same violet eyes all the Mizukage kids had. He also appeared to be no older than eleven.

"No, Dad met mom in a grocery store when they were in the spices aisle." Kanari corrected as she looked out the window.

"No, they met at a college party." Sayaka corrected from the backseat.

All eyes went to Tadaki awaiting for the actual answer, who simply chuckled in a somewhat distressed manner, pretending to make light of the subject.

Sanae closed her eyes and shook her head in a quite unforgiving manner," Honestly it's bad enough you still went through with this barbeque knowing Mitsuko had to work today and now you forget how the two of you met?"

"We had met a bunch of times before we 'met'!" Tadaki defended with a sheepish chuckled.

"What do you mean by met?" Ando inquired curiously.

"He means when he first saw her and thought she was hot." Sayaka responded flatly now trying to look out through the small window beside her.

"But anyways!" Tadaki piped up, with the intention of changing the subject," It's great that we have such a large turnout for today! I mean not only do we have ourselves, but we've caught the girls' friends and their parents coming along too! It was so nice of Mr Hoshina to drive."

"Are we there yet?" Ando asked impatiently as he unintentionally grasped onto Hikaru's knee while trying to look at the road ahead of them.

"Just about.." Tadaki assured, now slowing down a little for everyone to take in their surroundings.

The neighbourhood here was nice and tranquil, close to the outskirts of town. It was about a fifteen minute drive from Mizumoto Meadow and five minutes from the city's exit. The neighbourhood here was called Umekawa and it was as underpopulated as it was peaceful. Maybe that's why it was so peaceful here. Near the end of the neighbourhood was a giant park, where most people would come to host parties, the occasional wedding, or in their group case's, a barbeque. Normally, Renge wouldn't have so excited for an outing like this. But maybe it was because Kanari, Chiyo and Yugure were attending this barbeque, it seemed more appealing. And maybe it was the food as well.

Tadaki parked the car in a small parking lot next to a little diner and the group set out on foot to the park. But not before waiting for Yugure's dad Hisao to arrive. Soon, a silver van came into the parking lot and emerging from it was Yugure, Chiyo, Yugure's parents, Chiyo's dad and Yukari.

"Thanks for coming Mr Hoshina." Tadaki beamed as he held out his large hand to Yugure's dad.

"Please, Hisao is just fine." Hisao assured. Hisao wasn't as tall as Tadaki but still tall none the less. He had dark cobalt hair with pale blue eyes that were adverting as much contact as possible. Hisao then introduced Tadaki to his wife Shiho.

"Pleasure to meet you." Shiho responded in a dainty manner. Her voice was smooth and rich and she had deep violet hair along with brown eyes. She too was tall but not as tall as Tadaki.

"So, shall we go?" Tadaki asked as he led the way to the park.

"I feel like I haven't been here for ages!" Renge exhaled as the group began to walk. She looked around at her surroundings, doing her best to take it all in. It felt like the neighbourhood hadn't changed a bit! All the little houses looked just the way they did when she last saw them, all the same little stores occupying the opposite side of the street. It was like time hadn't passed here in the little neighbourhood of Umekawa.

"But why do we have to walk all the way to the park?" Yukari complained as the group strolled along.

"Yukari, me and dad told you not to wear those stupid stilettos today and we did say there wasn't going to be any parking at the park!" Chiyo reminded her sister, her patience already wearing thin.

"Then why is it called a _park_?" Yukari asked with a wry grin lifting onto her face.

"No more from you." Chiyo declared as she began to pull Yukari by her ear to the park.

Renge, Kanari and Yugure all giggled as they watched Chiyo drag Yukari to the park when suddenly, they what sounded like an elderly woman's voice call out to them.

"Excuse me my dears!" The voice called out. The girls saw a woman standing in the front yard of one of the houses they had yet to pass and quickly darted up towards her. The woman was a little younger than she sounded. She seemed to be in about her early fifties and wore a simply creamy orange button-up shirt with a pair of navy blue jeans. Her hair was graying but it was mostly auburn and she had very dark grey eyes.

"Yes Miss?" Renge asked, the three of them leaning up by her fence that came to the girls' waists.

"I'm looking for my daughter, I hope you can keep an eye out for her, if it wouldn't be too much trouble.." The woman said as she held out a flyer in her hand to the girls. The girls gathered around and looked at it. The girl seemed to be about sixteen years old and wore the uniform for a school near to the neighbourhood, Umezaki. Her hair was golden blonde and her eyes were a paler shade of grey than her mother's and they carried a look of ceaseless distress behind them. Her name was written above the picture.

"Asami Yuzuki..." Kanari read out in a soft voice.

"If I could see my Asami again, it would give my life meaning again." The woman declared," I hope it's not a burden to you girls.."

"No, we'll keep an eye for her!" Yugure affirmed," We promise!"

"Thank you my dears." The woman said as the girls went to catch up with the group.

When the girls caught up to the group, Sanae looked over Renge's shoulder to see what she was holding in her hand.

"What do you have there?" Sanae asked as she looked at the page. She scowled a little after realizing what it was.

"Did you get that from Mrs. Yuzuki?" Sanae asked Renge.

"I guess so, why?" Renge questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"Her daughter's been missing for about eight years now." Sanae informed," Mrs. Yuzuki used to work with us at Mizumoto Meadow, but she retired two years ago. Ever since that incident with her daughter, she hasn't been the same. I mean, I can't blame her but..."

"Handing out flying for eight years..."Renge began,"...That's a little, uncommon."

Shortly after the group arrived at the park. Surprisingly enough, it seemed very much unoccupied by any other groups, in fact there appeared to be only two other groups of families in the park. Chiyo and Yugure looked around their surroundings, clearly surprised by how well-kept the park had been for this time of year. The flower-beds were lively as were the trees, not one of them shedding a single leaf despite it being fall.

"So, do we have any vegetarians at our barbeque today?" Tadaki asked as he finally put down the barbeque him and Chiyo's dad had been carrying since they got out of the car.

Chiyo and Shiho raised their hands as Yugure took notice of a little pathway surrounding by bushes and trees.

"Um, where does that lead to?" Yugure asked as she pointed to the pathway. Sanae looked over her shoulder while unloading supplies for the barbeque to see just what Yugure was talking about.

"It leads to a hidden oasis." Sanae declared with a grin," Only the strong and good of heart can reach it."

"Ooh, that sounds amazing!" Yugure trilled as her eyes lit up," Come on Chiyo, let's check it out!"

Yugure then took a hold of the reluctant Chiyo's hand and dragged her to the pathway.

"Agh, I don't think we should stray away from the group!" Chiyo shouted in defense before being pulled away into the pathway. She looked over her shoulder to see if their was anyone objecting to this but all she saw was a few waves from the parents and Kanari.

Renge shouted 'good luck' to them and Chiyo could be heard groaning loudly as the girls were out of sight.

"So, should we set up the table?" Renge asked her mother as she lifted up the folded table. Sanae nodded while taking out a bowl and dispensing a bag of chips into it.

"I assume Tadaki's going to be preparing all the food right?" Hajime asked as he took out two drinks from the cooler, handing one of them to Tadaki.

"Well, I might as well, as I am the best chef here." Tadaki said as he opened the can while resting his elbow on Kanari's shoulder. Kanari nodded in approval and Sanae glanced over to Tadaki with daggers in her eyes.

"Best chef here huh?" Sanae asked with arms crossed," Are you sure about that?"

"Why, I've never been so sure of anything in my life!" Tadaki exclaimed gallantly as he clinked his can with Hajime's.

Renge and Sanae exchanged unimpressed looks with each other and then Sanae declared," I bet I can a burger that's ten times better than yours!"

"Well why stop there? Why not a three course meal including a salad, the main entree, and dessert?" Tadaki proposed.

"You're on!" Sanae declared," And if I win, you have to double my paycheck for the next week!"

Tadaki bit his lip and then declared,"Then if I win, you have to work every shift with old Amegawa!"

"Not her..." Sanae groaned as she gritted her teeth. Everyone at Mizumoto Meadow absolutely hated old Amegawa. She was loud, obnoxious and always unintentionally distracting the other workers. But, every time Tadaki tried firing her, she would always shout that she had been working at Mizumoto Meadow for fifty years, before Tadaki himself was born. So, she was pretty much immune to being fired. For now at least.

"But we'll need a judge..." Tadaki declared as he tried to think of somebody. Kanari raised her hand to volunteer but Tadaki quickly dismissed her offer saying, as he put his hand on her head, "Your vote's going to be biased."

"But then we'll win for sure!" Kanari reminded him. It was easy to tell how tempted Tadaki was to do this, but he mustered up enough willpower to decline her again.

"We'll need someone who's very impartial, someone who we can trust that will pick based solely on taste." Sanae declared.

All eyes ended up falling to Hisao, who was still looking around for that impartial judge, not realizing he had already been chosen.

"I guess I could be the judge.." Hisao replied sheepishly. Tadaki and Sanae then glared towards each other.

"Then let the cook-off begin!" Tadaki declared.

"Three-course meal? Did we even pack anything to make dessert or a salad with?" Sayaka asked incredulously.

"Hm...you kids will have to go get the ingredients for the dessert from the corner store a few blocks up." Sanae stated.

"But what about the salad?" Hikaru asked.

"A chef will never forget about the salad!" Sanae declared as she held up a bowl with a head of lettuce inside of it.

"In the mean time, you and Hikaru have to go get the ingredients for the dessert." Tadaki said as he put his hands firmly on Sayaka's shoulders," Now go!"

Sayaka and Hikaru then began to walk for the corner store, not impressing their parents with their pace.

"I said go!" Sanae and Tadaki shouted in unison to their children, startling them and causing them to bolt to the corner store.

"Renge, Yukari! Come over here!" Sanae shouted as she motioned the girls over to her. The girls flocked over to Sanae, looking at her table.

On the table was the head of lettuce, three bottles of dressing and an array of spices. The girls looked shocked by all of these ingredients she brought to the barbeque, assuming that she hadn't been intending to participate in a cook-off today.

"Wow, mom this is a lot of stuff you got here..." Renge commented, with Yukari nodded her head in agreement vigorously.

"I'm going to need you girls to do some taste-testing for me." Sanae declared as she began to cut up the lettuce.

Yukari drew out a very long exasperated sigh and said," I don't see why we need to taste-test. All salads taste the same to me.."

Renge and Sanae then glowered over to Yukari, with the latter saying," Then prepare yourself for a salad like you've never tasted."

Meanwhile, Yugure and Chiyo were walking inside the little grove that the pathway led into. The grove was unlike anything they had ever seen. All the trees sprouted apples and the path was adorned with flowers everywhere. It was rather quiet in this grove though, the only thing the girls could hear was waster flowing into a stream nearby that they were unable to see. Yugure was so astonished by her surroundings, she just had to take a picture of every single flower or animal she came across. Chiyo on the other hand seemed to be very much suspicious of the place, finding it more than peculiar that this grove looked as if it never changed with the seasons.

"Chiyo look!" Yugure cried out as she pointed to a nearby rock with a frog on it, kneeling down towards it," It's a frog!"

"Ew!" Chiyo said in disgust as she took a step back from it.

Yugure took a picture of it on her phone and smiled at the little creature," I just love frogs, and amphibians. And reptiles, to an extent; I have a pet gecko at home!"

"Charming." Chiyo remarked as Yugure stood up, beginning to walk through the grove again.

The grove made Yugure feel at peace for some reason, as it was so quiet and it felt almost..exotic. It too made her wonder how such a place like this could exist just near the outskirts of town? She had a feeling her parents would've loved this place, with all these uncommon species of plants and such growing around here. She almost felt bad for bringing Chiyo over them.

"I hope we can get to that oasis!" Yugure beamed cheerfully as she looked around the grove.

"If there is an oasis at the end of this grove.." Chiyo muttered, slapping what felt like a bug on her back.

"Oh, but there has to be an oasis here!" Yugure cried as she tried to see if she could find anything that resembled an oasis in the distance," Ms Sanae said there'd be one herself."

"That means nothing.." Chiyo thought to herself.

"She did also say that the strong and good of heart can only reach it." Yugure reminded.

Chiyo then shot her a questioning look," Yeah, so what?"

"Well...we're Pretty Cure!" Yugure shouted, only to be hushed by Chiyo in case someone else was in the grove with them," We must be good of heart, and we're definitely strong! I'm sure we're going to find the oasis! It's just a matter of _when_ we'll find it."

As Yugure was talking, she wasn't really paying attention to her whereabouts, so that ultimately ended up having Chiyo pull her back as they approached a sketchy looking bridge.

"Yeah, just a matter of _when_ we'll find it." Chiyo repeated in a sarcastic voice.

Back at the cook-off, Sanae and Tadaki were just putting the finishing touches on their salads. After a few trials and experimenting with different dressings, the two of them finally came to a decision on what to put in their salad. After they were finished making their salad and using up more than half of their ingredients that were supposed to be for the barbeque, they brought their salads up to their judge.

Yukari was holding Sanae's salad and Ando was holding Tadaki's salad. They both set it down beside Hisao and carefully, Hisao took Sanae's first to try it. Both groups stared each other down while Hisao tasted Sanae's salad. Hisao pushed away Sanae's salad in the most neutral manner possible and then took Tadaki's salad. After Hisao was finished tasting his salad, the entire group fell eerily silent. They awaited Hisao's decision as they all looked at him expectantly. He darted his eyes between the two salads and eventually said,

"I'm calling it a draw."

"What?!" Sanae and Tadaki shouted in disbelief. Tadaki then rushed up to Hisao and shook him violently.

"Hisao, you can't be indecisive like for our cook-off, you have to pick one!" He begged while shaking the now-dizzy Hisao.

"I'm sorry, they were both very good salads..." Hisao apologized meekly," But I swear I'll decide a winner for the next two rounds."

Tadaki then glared over to Sanae," It appears the main entree is next."

"Aka my winning dish." Sanae boasted," Girls, man your positions!"

"What positions?" Renge and Yukari asked together.

"Kanari! Ando! Get my secret weapon from the bag!" Tadaki demanded.

Both Kanari and Ando nodded their heads vigorously,with the former responding," You got it boss!"

Soon, Renge and Yukari were left to sit on a blanket nearby Sanae's 'station' while she cooked. It didn't surprise Renge that much that she and Yukari were no longer needed by Sanae; if anything she was surprised her mother made use of them for the salad.

"You know, she's going to have to share the barbeque with Mr Mizukage." Yukari whispered to Renge. Renge nodded and shrugged, the matter not actually concerning her all that much. The only thing bothering her right now was hungry she was getting. She wanted to tell her mom that she should take a break from her battle with Tadaki but, her mom was in her 'cooking mode', a mode where the only thing she was intent on was making sure her meal was prepared to perfection. So, there were only two things that came from that mode really; a fired-up Sanae and a damn good meal.

Yukari then sighed," I wonder if Mr Mizukage will make us some burgers.."

Renge's head then shot up and Sanae turned her back from cooking for a split-second.

The two of them then shouted in unison," You dare eat the food of the enemy?!"

Yukari flinched and let out a yelp and shouted," I was only kidding!"

Tadaki looked through all his ingredients, even checked twice to see if he had everything. Yes, everything was here, everything he needed to defeat Sanae with was here. Buns, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, the secret weapon, and who could forget the patty? Everything was here and now the only he need to do right now was to grill the meat. Kanari and Ando waited at his side as he grilled, Ando keeping an eye out for what Kanari called 'saboteurs' Sanae then walked up towards the grill and Ando wore a look of dismay on his face.

"Dad the intruders are coming!" He shouted as he tugged on his dad's shirt.

"What are talking abou..." Tadaki trailed off as his eyes met Sanae's.

"Did you come to admit defeat?" Tadaki jeered as he crossed his arms, his daughter mimicking him in the process.

"Can't let Hisao eat a raw burger." Sanae pointed out as she held his dish up to him," And we only have the one grill."

Hikaru and Sayaka just exited the corner store, the store had actually been farther than they remembered. The two of them sat at the curb, both of them appearing a little unwilling to go back as it was going to be another long walk.

"I can't believe my stupid dad made me go buy his even stupider ingredients for his cook-off!" Sayaka groaned as she stretched out her arms and hung her head backwards.

"You know, a thought just came to me..." Hikaru stated, now attracting Sayaka's attention,"...How are they going to bake their desserts?"

"Huh...I don't know." Sayaka responded," Oh well, their loss. Pocky?"

Hikaru gingerly took a single stick from the chocolate Pocky box and the two sat in silence.

Yugure was just steps away from crossing the bridge, her sole-motivation being Chiyo cheering for her from behind.

"You literally only have to take two more steps and you'll be off the bridge!" Chiyo shouted with her hands cupped around her mouth.

And so, Yugure bit her lip and hastily ran across the bridge, clearing it in the process. She dropped to her knees once she got off and finally looked down to see what had been awaiting for her below. Under the bridge, about ten, or even fifteen feet below was brook that seemed to be harboring many rocks within it and a miniscule shore alongside it. It looked like a relaxing place, but it made Yugure wonder how it would even be possible to get down there without falling from the bridge.

"Your turn Chiyo!" Yugure called out from her side.

Chiyo looked down at the bridge nervously and shook her head.

"There's no way I'm crossing this thing!" Chiyo declared as she folded her arms and turned away from the bridge.

"But we've got to find the oasis!" Yugure begged, though it appeared that Chiyo wasn't budging. She then sighed loudly and decided to try and think of some other way for Chiyo to cross the bridge without her actually having to cross the bridge. Suddenly, it came to her.

"Chiyo! I've got an idea!" Yugure called out.

"What is it?" Chiyo shouted back, sounding rather uninterested.

"Transform!" Yugure instructed.

"Wha-?" Chiyo began before figured out what Yugure was talking about.

"I shouldn't, it's too reckless to do it out in the open!" Chiyo reasoned.

"Then hide behind one of the trees or something!" Yugure suggested. Chiyo bit her lip and went to transform.

She emerged from the trees, now transformed and materialized her pen. She took a deep breath and hesitantly put her trust into it as she wished to be where Yugure was. The pen worked and History was found standing next to Yugure. Her eyes were still shut and slowly, she opened one eye to see if it worked. She looked around and realized the pen did indeed work. Yugure then dragged her along again.

"I bet we're closer, come on!" Yugure cried jubilantly.

At the cook-off, Hisao was just about done sampling Tadaki's entree and in the midst of trying to figure out which one was the better of the two burgers. Everyone's gaze fell to Hisao yet again, who simply nodded as he thought about who to dub the winner of this match. Sanae and Tadaki were both staring him down again with the former puncturing holes in the plastic tablecloth as she leaned in closer. After a giant sigh, Hisao pushed Tadaki's dish aside saying, as he extended his hand to Sanae's direction,

"Sanae wins!"

"Yes!" Sanae shrieked as Renge hugged her and Yukari rolled her eyelid to the losing team.

"Hey, wait..." Kanari began while her dad hung his head in defeat," If dad wins the next round...it's going to be a draw."

"Then he should just quit why he can!" Sanae declared as she struck a finger to Tadaki.

"Or, we could make things interesting and make the next round worth two points..." Shiho suggested craftily.

"Hey, here come Hikaru and Sayaka now!" Kanari shouted as Sayaka and Hikaru came walking in with the ingredients for the desserts in bags slung around their forearms.

As Sayaka approached the group, she looked over to her dad and narrowed her eyes saying,"...You know you can't make these desserts right?"

Tadaki and Sanae flinched at the realization, both of them unsure of just what to do now.

"I guess it really is going to be a draw now..." Hajime chuckled awkwardly.

"What about Ms Yuzuki?" Renge then suggested," I bet she'd let you guys use her kitchen."

Sanae then made a mad dash towards Ms Yuzuki's house, with Tadaki following behind. The rest of the group, unsure of what else to do decided to run with them to Ms Yuzuki's house with Sanae and Tadaki.

The run to the house was exhausting for most of the parents, except for Sanae and Tadaki of course but the kids managed to follow along at a decent rate, with Yukari and Ando trying to outrun each other.

Renge panted while she ran alongside Kanari," I really shouldn't have suggested that."

"Think this is getting a little out of control?" Kanari asked as she watched her dad and Sanae race against each other.

Renge nodded her head vigorously as she continued to run, only now feeling that burning sensation in her lungs.

Yugure was practically bouncing up and down as the two of them were clearing the rest of the grove. Chiyo was growing tired of all this walking but even she could tell they were likely nearing the end of this grove, so she forced herself to keep going for Yugure's sake. What really weirded Chiyo out though as the fact that this part of the grove looked more in season than the rest of it. Leaves had fallen off from the trees, the path now covered in piles upon piles of these red leaves. It didn't make sense for only one section of this grove to be dying while the rest of it flourished.

"I think I see something up ahead!" Yugure cried as she shook Chiyo.

"See what? All I see are more trees.." Chiyo moaned as she squinted into the distance in search of something other than trees.

"Come on!" Yugure beckoned as she grabbed Chiyo by the wrist for what felt like the umpteenth time today for Chiyo. The girls ran and ran and soon enough, found themselves at the end of the grove. Yugure and Chiyo stepped past a few trees and looked around this new clearing.

It seemed to be just what Chiyo expected in the case of their actually being an oasis; a small, grassy little pasture with an incredibly small pond up ahead. There was a single tree in the little clearing and a few flowers sprouting around it.

Yugure looked around, brows furrowed as she inspected the clearing. For some reason, this wasn't what Yugure had in mind. It was indeed something that seemed to be very much a secret place, but...there didn't seemed to be anything special about it. If anything, the grove was more interesting than this place. Yugure sat on a large rock beside and tried to see if she was missing something. This place didn't really strike her as an oasis, but maybe she wasn't looking hard enough.

She then looked over to the flowers that encircled around the trees. Bluebells and red Tulips were growing all around the tree. There were pretty, but not what Yugure really expected to see in this so-called oasis. She then walked up towards the tree with Chiyo following behind.

Yugure knelt down to the back of the tree where she found a little carving of what looked like two fairies on the tree. Chiyo, now kneeling beside her, looked down at the small bed of flowers. She then looked down at the tiny garden, noticing something very strange taking refuge under the garden.

"This looks like a cork a to a bottle..." Chiyo stated as she pointed to the object. Yugure knelt in closer and nodded in agreement.

Yugure then tried to dig it up, but with no avail, complaining that the dirt would get her white dress all dirty.

"You can touch a frog, but you won't dig up a bottle?" Chiyo asked. Yugure then motioned Chiyo to dig up the bottle, which she inevitably did.

Inside the bottle, their appeared to be a note and a pair of necklaces, one with a red gem slung onto it, the other with a blue gem. Chiyo pulled out the note, unfolded it and read aloud

"This tree is our door to the fairy realm. And this is our oasis. In here, we train to fight our rivals, the Dark Destroyers and in the fairy realm, we can use our magic. We can also enter the fairy realm through that pond down there, but only Skyla can do it because Rose can't swim. I hope you too can find your inner magic and enter the fairy realm with us! Signed, Rose and Skyla the fairies." Chiyo read out.

The writing of the note looked like it belonged to children being no older than seven, or eight. And the gems of the necklaces seemed to be made from cheap plastic plus it appeared the chains for the necklaces were rusted.

"I guess they got to be something better than fairies.." Chiyo remarked as she held up the two necklaces to the light.

"It's like a time-capsule.." Yugure commented as she looked at the back of the note, with the date of May twenty-fifth two-thousand and five written in fine-print.

"Well, guess we have to go back to the barbeque don't we?" Chiyo said as she stood up.

"Right!" Yugure said as she stood up, note in hand. The two of them noticed the main road above them past a small hill and the two then ran up to the main road.

"So, who's it going to be today?" Jika asked from the comfort of the chair she was lounging in. For once, she wasn't feeling as majorly jittery as usual. If anything, all she felt was exhausted, most likely from that anger from the demolition of her cafe.

"Why you are asking that? You're going today." Rishi said uninterestedly, sitting at a table with Zephora.

"I just went the other day!" Jika pointed out," I shouldn't have to go twice in a row."

"Well, you should've thought about that before. Because you hadn't been going as of lately since before that last 'heist' of yours..." Rishi responded.

"Either way, I'm in no mood to go!" Jika cried as she crossed her arms.

"Well, neither are we." Rishi replied neutrally.

"And just why is that?!" Jika shouted haughtily, losing control of her temper.

Rishi began,"Because..."

"...We're having our tea-time." Zephora declared as she held out her cup as a gesture for Rishi to fill it with that type of tea he had been telling her to try.

"I wish you wouldn't call it that..." Rishi groaned as he filled her cup.

"You two are just, just...unprofessional! That's what you are! I'm leaving!" Jika yelled as she disappeared for the human realm.

"And she said she was in no mood to go..." Rishi smirked," All she needed was some motivation."

"This tea is unlike anything I've ever had before..." Zephora remarked as she looked down at the tea in her cup. It was iced peach tea. The fact that it was served cold was a strange enough concept for her, but to be served from a glass bottle? It was stranger than she thought.

"You don't like it?" Rishi asked.

"No, it's rather...refreshing..." Zephora replied as she took a brisk sip from her china cup.

Sanae ran as fast as she possibly could, neck in neck with Tadaki. Ms. Yuzuki's house was only a little further up ahead. She found a little bit more energy within herself and managed to get ahead of Tadaki and soon, she made it to the front gate of Ms. Yuzuki's house. But, what she saw in the place of Ms Yuzuki's house was something she would've never expected to see.

"Oh, a visitor?" Jika asked, sitting atop of Ms Yuzuki's house that was turned into a Delinquous.

Sanae looked up to the house in fear, very, very unsure of what she should do. She froze up and immediately, Tadaki caught up to her.

"I made it!" Tadaki panted as he put his hands on his knees while trying to catch his breath. He then noticed the Delinquous house before the two of them and in an instant, Jika took their Inner Scholars and fused them with a swing set in Ms Yuzuki's yard and a slide.

"Delinquous!" The monsterfied swing set and slide roared in unison.

Renge and Kanari arrived to the front gate of Ms Yuzuki's home and found Sanae and Tadaki unconscious on the ground in front of the trio of Delinquous.

"Mom!" Renge shouted as she knelt to her side.

"Dad!" Kanari cried as she went over to her father's side.

"Oh, I sure picked the cream of the crop today didn't I?" Jika crooned as she looked down at Renge and Kanari.

The girls narrowed their eyes at Jika, with Renge shouting," We're not going to stand for this!"

"Then keep sitting." Jika demanded as she sent the Delinquouses after the girls.

Renge and Kanari then took out their Fountain Pens of Knowledge and shouted,

"Pretty Cure, study session!"

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature introduced.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic introduced.

"I'll see you girls later." Jika called out as she directed the Delinquous she was sitting on away from the battlefield.

"Hey wait!" Literature cried as she tried to bring them back, though she was already with the swing-set Delinquous.

"I sure hope History and Science get here soon..." Arithmetic said, teeth gritted as she dodged a punch from the Delinquous.

"For all we know, they may be lost in that grove!" Literature said as she threw the swing-set Delinquous into the road.

"Hey, maybe we could lead these things to the grove!" Arithmetic suggested.

"No need!" Chiyo shouted, her and Yugure standing by the front gate of Ms Yuzuki's, well where Ms Yuzuki's house used to be, with their pens in hand.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" The girls cried in unison.

"The subject of generations past with tales that are sure to last, Cure History!" History introduced.

"The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!" Science introduced.

"You guys!" Literature cried out to History and Science," Handle these Delinquouses for us! Jika just left with one and we gotta stop it!"

"Was that Delinquous by any chance made from the house?" History asked with her eyes narrowed at the empty lot.

"Sure was!" Arithmetic responded with a wink as she got dragged by Literature to the house Delinquous.

History sighed and shook her head, resuming her fight with the swing-set Delinquous.

Meanwhile, Cure Literature and Arithmetic ran as fast they possible could to the direction of the Delinquous, feeling as if they efforts may have been futile as they had no idea where it went. Literature stopped for a minute to catch her breath and hung her head in the process. Arithmetic then placed her hands on her hips, trying to look around for any sign of the Delinquous as she tapped her foot impatiently.

"How are we supposed to find them?" Arithmetic shouted in frustration as she crossed her arms and continued to tap her foot.

Literature sighed and tried to think, what could they do to find a gigantic monstrous house that wasn't hoping to cross paths with it as they ran in random directions?

"We need to work together on this." Literature declared as she dusted herself off.

"Ok, so what are we supposed to do to find them?" Arithmetic asked.

The Cures then felt the ground tremor greatly and were almost knocked onto their feet. Shortly after, the cry from the Delinquous could be heard.

"Not much I guess." Literature said as she and Arithmetic began to run towards the where the sound of the Delinquous came from.

They found the Delinquous at their barbeque site and Jika was now off of the Delinquous, looking for something it appeared. The Delinquous was glowing a red light from itself as Jika continued to search.

"It has to be somewhere around here it just _has to!_ " Jika cried as she began to look under the folded tables and underneath the salad bowls.

Arithmetic squinted her eyes at Jika, asking," Just what is she-?"

"-The book!" Literature shouted in realization. Just before the two began to join her, they were prevented in doing so by the Delinquous.

Arithmetic kicked the Delinquous up into the air and Literature leapt up towards it, punching it in it's mid-section and blasting to the other side of the park. But then, the Delinquous grabbed a hold onto Literature's leg and threw her into the table with all their food on it.

"Hey, at least be mindful of where you throw me!" Literature barked as she tore pieces of salad out from her hair.

"It's not like that food was going to be put to good use anyways.." Jika spat as she continued to search for the book madly.

Arithmetic gritted her teeth and used 'Geometric Frenzy' on Jika. Jika dodged with a yelp and spun her head over to Arithmetic's direction.

"What? I'm just being honest! Food is supposed to bring people together but all you let it do for your group in split you into sides rivaling against each other..." Jika pointed out.

"Alright, maybe we all got a little carried away with the cook-off..." Arithmetic replied as she scratched her cheek.

"But, it's not like we didn't have fun right?" Literature said with a smirk as the Delinquous came running back to the field. Literature and Arithmetic then began to fight with the Delinquous again, launching it into the air once more and sparring in mid-air. The Delinquous and Arithmetic were currently fighting one-on-one, being evenly matched, but then the Delinquous punched Arithmetic and she began to fall. But in an instant, she was caught by the pale red diamond from Literature's Assassinating Diamante attack. Arithmetic looked down at the large diamond she was now sitting down.

"Didn't think it could do that..." Arithmetic marveled as she looked at her reflection in the diamond.

Literature winked at her and then continued the fight for Arithmetic, with the latter following behind her.

The Cures threw punches endlessly one after the other and just before it was drained of all the energy it had left, it tried swing the girls into a tree, but the girls fall was cushioned by a rather strange, curious green blob. The girls inspected it curiously and heard a voice that sounded like Cure Science's ask,

"Did we make it in time?" While History drove the Delinquous into the ground, creating a small crater in the process.

"Barely..." Arithmetic chuckled, while Literature noticed the blob losing it's structure and dissolving under them. The girls stepped off the blob and Literature saw from the corner of her eye something glinting in the light up in one of the trees.

"It's the book!" She unintentionally yelled, clamping her mouth shut after doing so.

"Where?!" Jika shouted as she looked around as madly as before. She then saw the book up in the tree and before she could even try to climb the tree, Literature was already trying herself to reach the book, using Cure History for a lift with her hands folded.

"No!" Jika shouted as she jumped from one of the tables to get to the book.

"Just a bit more...!" Literature cried triumphantly as she stretched her fingers out. But Jika beat her to it, though, she didn't have the book in her grasp for long as it vanished from the vicinity yet again.

Literature and Jika looked at the empty spot where the book once was, feeling absolutely defeated as they glanced to their empty hands.

Jika then left the field in a near fit of range and the girls all ran to the Delinquous.

"I'll take it from here girls." Arithmetic declared as she extended her arm out in front of them.

"Pretty Cure-!"

"-Wait!" Literature interrupted," Shouldn't we do this at Ms. Yuzuki's place? That way we won't have to try and explain why her house is in the middle of the park?"

"Is that how that works?" History asked as she rested her head under her fist in thought.

"Better safe than sorry.." Science commented," But...how are we going to carry this thing?"

Arithmetic then had an idea," Pretty Cure, Geometric Frenzy!"

She used her attack to create a platform for the Delinquous to rest under for them to bring it to the empty lot with.

The Cures then ran to the empty lot that was Ms. Yuzuki's and Arithmetic called out,

"Pretty Cure, Problem-solving Paradox!"

The Delinquous was purified and Ms Yuzuki's Inner Scholar returned back into Ms Yuzuki.

"So, where did everyone go?" Yugure asked as they began to look around for the group.

"Knowing my dad, he probably took them all to the safest place in this neighbourhood he could possibly think of..." Kanari thought aloud.

"And...where would that be?" Chiyo asked impatiently.

Kanari led the girls to the corner store and it appeared her guess was correct.

"Are you guys ok?" Kanari asked her dad, who was leaning against the side of the store.

"We're fine, but where did you girls go?" Tadaki questioned curiously.

"We went back to the barbeque site!" Renge improvised.

"So, are you and Miss Sanae still going to do the dessert round at Ms Yuzuki's place?" Kanari asked her dad.

Tadaki answered,"Maybe, that is if we-"

He was cut-off by Renge's stomach grumbling, the latter blushing fiercely at how loud her stomach was.

"-have enough time after making burgers for everyone else!" Tadaki finished with a chuckle. Kanari and Renge joined him in laughing and soon after, they all went back to the barbeque.

Jika sat alone in room where the denizens usually resided in, feeling her insides writhe inside her to the point of rendering her motionless. If she told a single soul of what had happened today, she would be gone, never heard of again. Erased from existence. The very thought was giving her a migraine putting her in an unending state of distress and worried about the thought of even seeing anyone else today. She needed to go back to the human world so this could all blow over. So that she could regain composure. But how long was she able to go before she raised suspicions? Two hours, four days, a week? For some reason, it felt like not even a week would be enough for this whole thing to run it's course on Jika's well-being. And the worst thing was, Jika was an awful liar, so she couldn't even hope to report to Temptasia the outcome of today's encounter without mentioning the book. The sole thing they were trying to search for. The only thing that could relinquish victory to Temptasia, the thing that showed up right before her in an instant, and disappeared in a matter of seconds.

She then decided that she could go to the human world and find something to distract her and cheer her up so much that it'll make her forget the whole incident even happened. But, just before she left for the human world, a painfully familiar voice called to her softly,

"Jika."

Jika turned around, as stiff as possible and turned to see Temptasia standing behind her with a tall figure behind herself.

"Y-yes?" Jika sputtered nervously.

"You've been avoiding all of us all afternoon. Did something happen?" Temptasia asked calmly.

Jika then began to ramble, "N-no! N-n-not at all! I was just, you know, in the mood for some alone you know to, well, just-"

"Could it be, you encountered something...noteworthy today?" Temptasia interrogated, with a small, somewhat devious smile appearing to her face as she said 'noteworthy'.

"Me? Encounter something noteworthy?" Jika repeated, trying to sound incredulous, but really just sounding awkward.

"Spare yourself the embarrassment." Temptasia demanded," We saw it earlier."

Jika rambled again, sounding way more distressed,"Alright, so I did see the book but, for all I know, it may have not actually been the book because, I actually think in may've been some replica that-"

"Poor Vice has been searching high and low, on every single continent, not leaving a single stone unturned and the book shows up before you and you let it disappear?" Temptasia questioned, raising her voice.

All Jika could manage was a single yelp, expecting that she was going to be obliterated in an instant. But no, Temptasia spared her.

"I guess it would perhaps be better if...you had some assistance during your little searches..." Temptasia expressed," Or rather, you be of assistance during the searching."

"Oh, uh yes..absolutely!" Jika responded,"Anything for you, Temptasia!"

"Anything?" Temptasia asked, with Jika nodding swiftly in approval," Good."


	17. That's it! I'm moving out!

Renge tilted her head back and obscured her eyes with her ebony bangs. She then quickly slammed her head into her math textbook and laid there on her bed in defeat. Only now did the temperature actually begin to drop which Renge hadn't even noticed due to Pretty Cure and homework, not to mention shopping for Christmas presents for everyone.

Renge then decided to take a break from her homework and pushed her textbook off of her bed as she as she got up to walk towards her computer desk. On her desk laid a notebook with a checklist of names on it; each name, save for one close to the top with a check mark beside it. Renge ran her free hand into her hair and let it run out to play with the salmon ends of her hair. She let out a sigh as she looked at all the names on her list, feeling quite confident in the gifts she bought for everyone, knowing they'd all love the presents Renge bought for them.

For Kanari, Renge decided to buy her a black hoodie that she said she had been wanting for months along with a set of rings. She bought Chiyo a book she hoped that she'd like and Yugure got a small, but reasonably priced figure from an anime both her and Renge watched. Shopping this year wasn't as bad as the year before but there was still one person on Renge's list that she had failed to buy a present for yet. She glared down at the only name that didn't have a checkmark beside it, looking at down at the name made her heart begin to flutter.

For Nao, she was at a loss of ideas regarding what to get him. Renge had a feeling that he would've been one of those people who would've been tough to buy for, but Renge didn't expect it to this hard to find a gift for him! Renge remembered how she went into the mall with her mom last week as they were shopping for Christmas presents and when she reached Nao's name on the list, she expressed her issues with her mom without revealing that she and Nao were dating. Looking back at the mall trip made her want to cringe.

In the end, Renge ended up buying Nao two packs of Pokemon cards, feeling so unsatisfied the purchase and as if this was far from a good enough present for Nao. She consulted Ayano and Kokoro about it, the former telling her it wasn't that good of a present and Kokoro simply laughing a little at her decision telling her, "it's your choice."

"I'll just have to ask one of his friends about what to buy him..." Renge declared as she dropped the checklist back onto the desk," As for my math homework..."

Quickly, she texted Kanari for help, knowing that if Kanari saw her message as soon as she sent it, she most likely appear at her door in an instant.

Kanari was slumped into her bed, looking at a magazine that caught her eye in the store that she got it in. The cover itself was quite typical, displaying a very pretty girl in the center, but that wasn't what caught Kanari's eye. On the cover, the was a little inset photo in the bottom corner that had a picture of a girl with green and lavender hair, with the caption reading ' DeliGoth, the new rage! Details on page 17'. So, she bought the magazine, curious to know what this strange sounding trend was about.

Apparently, DeliGoth was an abbreviation for Delicate, or Delightful Goth and it actually seemed really, really interesting. The clothes for DeliGoth were all either very bright or pastel in colour, giving off a rather cheerful vibe but the outfits were all decorated heavily with black accessories and all of the models in DeliGoth wore at least one piece of black clothing.

Their makeup was very loud and many of the girls pictured wore stick-on gems near the corner of their eyes. But, the thing that really grasped Kanari's attention was their hair.

Each girl had very light, unnatural coloured hair, varying in colours from pink to mint green. Looking at their hair was actually a lot of fun for Kanari and it got her thinking...

Kanari went into what used to be her sister's room and inspected for any hair dye. Lucky for her, she found a basket full of dyes on the top shelf of Sayaka's closet. So, ever so carefully, she picked out a few bottles and went to the bathroom to experiment. Tonight, the only ones in her house was her and Ando, her mother at a meeting and her father still working, substituting himself in as somebody called in sick.

She walked slowly as she examined her choices of hair dye in the bathroom, trying to determine if these colours were best for her hair. After deciding that these colours were best, she got down to work and began to dye clumps of her hairs in the various colours she had chosen, along with snipping her bangs a little. She had never done either of these things without the help of her sister Sayaka and though she originally felt confident in herself, she was still feeling a tad unsure of whether she could pull the look off with this little makeover she was giving herself.

When she was finished, her hair was now white with blotchy, uneven streaks of green, purple and pink with her bangs now a little shorty and looking far from even. She looked at herself, feeling as if something was missing. She then figured out what it was and ran to her room in an instant to get it.

When she returned to the bathroom, she brought two headbands with her; one that was adorned with spikes, the other a flower crown that Renge had left here when she came over at some point.

She put them both in her hair, and felt very much content with her look.

The next morning, Kanari went downstairs, having made plans with Renge this morning to help her with her Math homework. Today, she put on a white pullover shirt with black skulls on it, black ripped up shorts with mint green leggings underneath and had the two headbands from last night nesting on her head. She put her phone inside a light pink phone case that she seldom used but opted out for today as it did go with her outfit. And, to complete her look, she found as much black jewelry in her bedroom that she could scavenge and put all of it on, adding some goth to her delicate look. She went downstairs, texting Renge as she did so while gaining the attention of her mother and little brother Ando.

" 'Morning." Kanari said as she walked into the kitchen to get to the front door of her house.

Kanari's mother, Mitsuko, nearly dropped the plate in her hand as she looked at her daughter in shock.

"Kanari, what did you do to your hair?!" Mitsuko shrieked furiously, making Ando jump.

"Nothing." Kanari fibbed as she darted her eyes to the side.

"It looks like rainbow sherbet ice-cream!" Ando exclaimed as he pointed a finger to Kanari's hair.

"Ugh, Kanari. I thought we agreed that you wouldn't be dying your hair anymore until after you move out, if you ever decide to move out." Mitsuko groaned with a face palm.

"But, mom. I think it looks neat." Kanari responded in defense.

Mitsuko walked up to her daughter and held clumps of her newly dyed hair in her hands," Look at this, it isn't even coloured thoroughly! What do you think are people going to say when they see this?"

"That I'm really cool and stylish?" Kanari answered, sounding a tad unsure herself.

"There going to say she has weird hair!" Ando jeered, receiving a menacing look from Kanari as their mother continued to examine her hair.

"You know I was never too fond of this whole look of yours. And you know I tried to be reasonable, to the point of letting you dye your hair white, but...this is a bit too much. So either, you dye your hair back, or I'm dying it for you." Mitsuko declared.

"No way! It's my hair, I'm doing what I want with it!" Kanari shouted as she held onto her hair protectively.

"Kanari, I understand your need to express yourself, but as long as you live in my house, you will live under my rules." Mitsuko stated sternly.

"Then fine! I'll live somewhere else!" Kanari shouted carelessly as she went into her room, retrieved a few things to put in her bag, and left slamming the door on her mother and Ando.

Kanari felt shivers crawl down her spine as she walked to Renge's house, even though she had only been out for about two minutes.

"Renge, open the door!" Kanari beckoned as she rapped against the door.

Renge opened the door, reluctant to do so after being told to rudely. Renge looked at Kanari with narrowed eyes, and eyed Kanari, who was now wearing a fitted beanie in the place of her headbands.

"Nice hair." Renge said as Kanari walked into Renge's place.

"Nice shorts." Kanari responded as she took off her shoes," Anyways, I need something from you, please."

Renge questioned, "Something being...?"

"A place to stay?" Kanari requested with a pleading look in her eye.

"I can't. All of our rooms are occupied.." Renge replied with a shrug as she rubbed her eyes.

"Oh, please Renge!" Kanari begged, dropping to her knees and clasping her hands together," I can sleep on the couch or the basement or something, pretty please~!"

"I don't know, and I kinda have plans for this morning so I don't have much time to waste.." Renge said as Renny and Topher flew towards her bag on the staircase.

"What are you guys doing this morning?" Kanari questioned as she stood up.

"We're going to search for the book again." Renny responded.

"We checked this one bookstore down the road yesterday afternoon, most of them were second-hand." Renge stated," Goodness, some of those books were just so old that you couldn't even classify them as books because they were only hanging onto a single thread to keep them together."

Kanari noticed a pair of bags under Renge's eyes and she began to wonder whether they came from trying to work on her homework last night, or trying to find the book. Ever since that last encounter, Renge had been searching madly for the Book of Omnipotence, checking as many bookstores as she could find due to feeling so guilty for not getting it when it appeared right before her. But, at least Jika didn't get it, she kept telling herself that things could've been a lot worse had that have happened.

"But why do you need a place to stay?" Renge asked as she put on her shoes.

"My mom kinda got mad at me and I sorta stormed out..." Kanari answered sheepishly, adverting her eyes from Renge.

"Did it have to do with your hair?" Renge interrogated, sounding only a little curious.

"How did you know?" Kanari asked with a forced laugh," So...you think I could crash here for a couple of days?"

"I doubt it, sorry Kanari." Renge said in disinterest," Maybe Chiyo or Yugure could house you."

"That I doubt." Kanari responded with her eyes narrowed, feeling as if doing so would make her feel like a burden to them," But, fine. If you won't house me then I'll just get someone better to...Let me borrow your phone."

"Why?"

"Because mine's at the bottom of my bag.." So, reluctantly, Renge handed Kanari her phone.

Kanari then began to dial a number on Renge's phone, and Renge looked at her, appearing rather confused while wondering," Someone...better?"

" 'Morning Sayaka! How's my very lovely sister doing on this oh so lovely Saturday morning~?" Kanari asked into her phone," Oh? What do I want? Well, you know me and mom kinda had little argument and so for the time being...I'm without a place to stay? I'll tell you the rest of the details later, so could I just stay a couple nights at your place? Please? Wait, what do mean you can't keep me? Tom needs a place to stay while his apartment gets painted? Are you kidding me?! Fine...wait, you've got, something else in mind?"

This piqued Renge's interest, and so she leaned a little closer to hear what Sayaka had to offer.

"Um...ok, sure..." Kanari said as she hung up on her sister.

Renge leaned towards Kanari, waiting for her to say something," So..? Does she have a place for you?"

"I think..." Kanari said as she scratched the back of her head.

Kanari then led Renge to the address that Sayaka had given her, both girls only being somewhat familiar with the location. It only took them the one bus ride, but the ride felt like it took a whole forty minutes. Finally, once they got off the bus, they walked for a few minutes and arrived at the front of a hotel.

"Um...are we at the right location?" Renge asked as she looked over Kanari's shoulder to read the address that she had jotted down.

"1200 Kitumura Avenue, yeah we're in the right location..." Kanari said with a shrug as she walked into the hotel seeming a tad uneasy.

The hotel was very much spacious on the inside and simply bustling with people all over in the lobby. It made sense for so many people to be here though, as it was a Saturday morning; people were checking in, leaving for brunch outside of the hotel while the rest just chose to lounge in the lobby as if they were waiting for somebody to arrive from the elevator at the far left of the lobby.

"This is the Keizaki, isn't it?" Renge asked Kanari as the two girls walked across the lobby to get to the front desk, unaware of all the stares they were getting.

"Nah, at least I don't think so. That place is haunted." Kanari stated as they reached the front desk.

"Welcome to the Keizaki, how may I help you?" The man at the front desk asked the girls.

Kanari felt her heart lurch upon hearing that," Um, would you happen to know where Sayaka Mizukage would be?" Kanari asked uncomfortably.

"She might be somewhere between the third and eighteenth floor by now..." The man vaguely as he began to dial a number on the phone next to him," Oh there she is!"

Sayaka emerged from out of the elevator, wearing a plain maid's outfit while pushing a cart filled with cleaning supplies. She donned an exhausted, irritated look on her face as she walked up to the front desk.

"I need more of those disinfecting wipes." Sayaka said flatly as she gave the man an empty container that seemed to carry those disinfecting wipes.

The man gave them to her and after he did, he said," You have visitors."

"You said you have a place for me?" Kanari said as Sayaka's eyes fell to her and Renge.

"Follow me." Sayaka declared as she led the girls to the elevators.

Sayaka and the girls entered the sixth floor and Sayaka held out a key from a set all bound in a large ring. She opened the door to room 607 and let Kanari into the room.

Kanari and Renge looked around the room in awe as they entered, both of them had been in a hotel room since now. The room was sorta just what Renge had pictured, with a little balcony near the living room and sunlight pouring into the room from the balcony's windows. In the room there was two beds; one of them being a single, the other a double. There was a bathroom in the far corner of the room along with a side table between the beds. It reminded Renge of some show she used to watch as a kid several years ago, but the name of it escaped her.

"So...you want me...to stay here for a couple of days?" Kanari asked Sayaka, who was standing by the door. Sayaka nodded in response.

"But how am I supposed to pay for this? How much is it to even stay for a night?!" Kanari asked incredulously in panic as she began to search her bag for her wallet.

"Relax, I can pay for it. But I doubt I'll need to if you make sure no one knows you're here." Sayaka shrugged.

"Uh, couldn't you get fired for that?" Renge questioned.

"I can always apply at the restaurant down the street." Sayaka said in dismissal as she left the girls in the room, throwing the key to Kanari.

"Well, I guess I'll be living here for the next few days.." Kanari stated as she made herself comfortable on the double bed while pulling her lap-top out. Renge looked around the room warily, feeling bad for not giving Kanari a place to stay in the first place.

"This is insane, I don't think you should do this..." Renge declared," Just apologize to your mom or, I could try to convince my mom to let you stay at my place.."

"Thanks, but no thanks Ren. You know...the more that I think about it, the more I feel comfortable in staying here." Kanari declared as she took her hat off, nearly making Renge cringing.

"Woman, your roots are showing!" Renge cried in near disgust as she observed the top of Kanari's head, which wasn't white but rather, ash blonde.

"As if." Kanari retorted as she waved a hand in dismissal before Renge took her phone out to show her the top of her head," Oh, would you look at that. Guess after last night, I forgot all about touching up my roots. Not to mention, I think I left my hair-spray can at home..."

Renge rolled her eyes, while Kanari's hair wasn't as unhealthy as it appeared, it still was unhealthy in it's own way. Bleaching her hair white was surprisingly not as damaging to her hair as one would assume, as her hair was already a pale ash blonde, but it still was bleached nonetheless. Plus, she also used this hair spray that could dye her hair white temporarily that she found at a Halloween shop to hide her roots, which was again, mildly unhealthy for her hair.

"Buy me some hairspray." Kanari said imperatively in an innocent tone as she looked up to Renge.

"No." Renge responded flatly," And besides, you said yourself this place was haunted."

"Ok, it's not the entire hotel! It's just the two rooms." Kanari replied with her eyes glued to her laptop screen.

"Which rooms are that?" Renge asked her in a near nervous tone.

"The ones that have their suite number and floor add up to thirteen." Kanari answered uninterestedly.

Renge looked up, remembering which room Kanari was staying," Ok, um...you know what? I'll go buy you your hairspray and while I'm at it, I'll go buy lunch too and I'll go call Chiyo and Yugure, see if they want to hang out with us in the haunted suite ok? I'll see you later!"

"Later~" Kanari responded, not catching that last part from Renge.

Renge was gone much longer than Kanari had expected, at least forty minutes and soon enough, she was beginning to get hungry. She exhaled a sigh as she tore open her bag and forced herself to chew on yet another stick of gum in hopes of subsiding her hunger, just a little bit. As she began to blow an enormous bubble, Sayaka walked into the room again.

"You have a guest." Sayaka informed Kanari, the multi-hair-colored girl popping her bubble as a response.

A tall, slim and dark-skinned woman walked into the room, donning a friendly smile on her face. Her hair was very,very curly and came to her shoulders and she was dressed all classy. She sat on the single bed beside Kanari, who stared at her the entire time as she walked into the room.

"It's been a while, Kanari." The woman beamed in a gentle voice.

"Back at ya, Natsuhi." Kanari responded as her mouth lifted into a half-smirk.

Kanari and Sayaka had known Natsuhi for years, ever since they had moved to this city. They moved here when Kanari was four, Sayaka was eight and Ando was well, not around. Before they lived next to Renge, they spent a couple of months in a cul-de-sac on the other side of town. The kids in the cul-de-sac were very friendly, but there was this one girl who the both of them really clicked with. That girl was Natsuhi. Even when they were kids Natsuhi was already emitting this warm, motherly feel and everyone kinda considered her to be the cul-de-sac unofficial mother. Despite being younger than a handful of other kids. Natsuhi was about a year older than Sayaka and five years older than Kanari. Despite only living in the cul-de-sac for about a year or so, the girls did everything they could to make sure they kept in touch with Natsuhi. But, for the last two years, they all got too entangled in their school work to make times for each other so they didn't contact each other as much as they used to.

"Natsuhi works here at the hotel," Sayaka declared," She's the concierge."

"Wow, that sounds, pretty, I mean fancy or...pretty fancy I guess.." Kanari stammered as she examined Natsuhi. In some ways, she had changed drastically as if she finally was able to grow into that motherly exterior of hers. But, somehow she simultaneously managed to feel like the same old Natsuhi the girls played at the cul-de-sac many years ago.

"You have no clue what a concierge does do you?" Sayaka asked her.

"Not in the slightest." Kanari admitted with a swift shake of her head.

Sayaka groaned while Natsuhi simply giggled before explaining," A concierge does many things for the guests of the hotel. Such as, make restaurant reservations, booking appointments for things like the spa, arranging for transportation services, even recommending some exciting places to visit during the day!"

"So in short, you do all the important stuff for the guests." Kanari debriefed.

"Yes, I suppose so." Natsuhi replied before her phone rang.

"Hello?" She said into the phone," Well, send him up to the sixth floor, I'm visiting someone currently."

"Another guest?" Sayaka asked her.

"No, just a friend. He won't be here long though." Natsuhi assured.

Shortly after, Tamotsu had appeared in Kanari's room, holding a box of donuts in his hands. He looked around the room and smiled sheepishly at Natsuhi, who simply narrowed her eyes at him.

"Sorry I'm late.." Tamotsu said sheepishly, waving the donuts in Natsuhi's face.

"We were supposed to have breakfast four hours ago..." Natsuhi as she looked at the box of donuts in his hands, temptation rising within her," Those better not be Mayukawa Donuts..."

"Nope, Aonozakura. Your favourite," Tamotsu said as he opened up the box.

In an instant, Natsuhi's eyes lit up as she looked at set of donuts in the box. Each of them looked so good; it made her mouth water at the sight of them. All her favourites could be found inside the box; Fudge Buster, Coconut Cream, Raspberry Filling and of course Honey-glazed. Natsuhi bit her lip, her stomach rumbling loudly upon looking at the donuts.

"Did you know there are only five Aonozakura shops left in the city?" Tamotsu said as Natsuhi picked out a Fudge Buster donut.

"Five's plenty.." Natsuhi said as she bit into her donut, motioning the rest of them to take a donut too.

"So, how long are you in town for?" Tamotsu asked Kanari, who reddened a bit after hearing his question.

"I, not visiting town or anything I'm just..." Kanari trailed off, hoping Sayaka would finish for her.

"Our mom got mad at her for dying her hair again and now she's decided to stay here for a couple of days until the whole thing blows over." Sayaka explained reluctantly.

"Oh, you dyed your hair?" Natsuhi asked.

Sayaka pulled off Kanari's hat, revealing the streaks and her ash-blonde roots. Kanari fought for her hat in Sayaka's hands while Natsuhi just looked at her hair in bewilderment.

"Well, I hope your mother will overlook your bright hair..." Natsuhi said sheepishly as she got up.

"I doubt it, she nearly killed me when I dyed my hair white a few months ago." Kanari commented, finally retrieving her hat back from Sayaka.

Tamotsu followed behind Natsuhi quickly and the latter could be heard scolding Tamotsu for being late today and for some aquarium trip they had a few weeks ago.

Kanari double-blinked in surprise as the two walked out," I'm surprised how chill the two of them were about me staying in the hotel room by myself. Not to mention, I'm not paying for it."

"I think they're both under the impression that you _are_ paying for it. Plus, Natsuhi's known us for a long time, I think she'll let this slide..." Sayaka responded," And I worked with that guy, Tamotsu at Pizza Perfection two months ago. He was one of the few people I didn't mind while working there."

Sayaka then got up from the single bed she was sitting on and said," I need to get back to work. So, don't call for room service or anything of the sort."

"Roger that." Kanari complied as she sprawled out on the bed again.

A few minutes shortly after, Yugure and Chiyo showed up.

Yugure and Chiyo both looked around the room in astonishment, unbelieving that Kanari could afford this considering she no source of income. It appeared that Yugure may've had plans today, as she was dressed quite nicely for just visiting Kanari in her hotel suite. She wore a pale blue blouse with a dark blue skirt that had silver stars on it and white knee high socks. She wore closed-toed wedge heeled shoes and in her hand she held a cup from the cafe across the street. Chiyo on the other hand, seemed to be dressed in an unusually (for her) casual manner, her chestnut brown hair all wound up in a bun and wearing a pair of fleecy tights and a yellow band-concert t shirt.

"Wow, this place looks so neat!" Yugure exclaimed as she sipped on her drink.

"Isn't this the hotel with the haunted suite?" Chiyo questioned as she narrowed her eyes at the room.

"Ladies, ladies! Welcome to my temporary residence!" Kanari said as she stood up from the bed.

Chiyo squinted at her and walked straight up beside Kanari," Where's Renge? She said you did something to your hair.."

And in an instant, Chiyo ripped Kanari's hat off, revealing her newly-coloured hair once more. Yugure seemed to be both highly amazed, and alarmed as her eyes fell to Kanari's hair. Chiyo, who now felt regretful in ripping off Kanari's hat, looked revolted in Kanari's dye job but didn't say a thing. The fact Kanari dyed her hair white was weird enough for Chiyo, but now there were uneven streaks all over it too? She gave Kanari back her hat and simply shook her head.

"Renge's been gone for an hour." Kanari responded as she hastily put her hat back on," In the meanwhile we'll-!"

"I have a book report I need to finish." Chiyo interrupted in a deadpan tone as she fished out her binder and pencil case.

Kanari restated,"Well, in that case, me and Yugu-rin will-!"

"I was supposed to meet Satoshi and Shizuka by one around here so I'm only here for a little bit." Yugure interjected sheepishly.

"In that case I guess we'll just sit in awkward silence 'til Renge gets here." Kanari declared in defeat with a moan.

Nobody objected and Kanari banged the back of her head against the wall as Chiyo and Yugure got to work.

Meanwhile, Renge was just finished searching the entire fiction section for the Book of Omnipotence. Renge's legs were killing her, but she fought to look around for the book for as long as she possibly could. It had to have been more than a coincidence that this bookstore was so close to the hotel, and it was so big. This would've been the perfect place for the book to hiding! But, that's the same thing she said for the book store before that one, and the book store before that one. Her heart was beating irregularly in distress as she looked at each book on the shelf. She tried her hardest to remember what the book looked like on that day she and Jika saw it. It was, really large and shining. It looked brown, but that may've been because it was shaded by the inner branches of the tree. But, if it wasn't brown, what colour was it? She really didn't want to look through the fiction section a second time. So, she decided to make this search a little more enjoyable and headed over to the manga section.

As she approached the manga section, she felt a little at ease now. She skimmed over the section, nothing looking like the book unfortunately, but then something caught her eye. She stood on her tiptoes and picked out a book. It was the Pokemon manga. She looked down at it, holding it between her two hands and wondered to herself,  
"Maybe Nao would like this?"

She then shook her head, remembering how Nao once said he preferred anime over manga when she offered to let him borrow one of hers. She put the book away and headed to another section of the book store. Dragging her feet to the non-fiction section, Renge pressed her hands over her eyes and sighed a little. She should've been searching harder, they didn't have any time to waste since it was likely that Temptation was beginning to look for the book as madly as she was. Her shoulders were beginning to feel knotted, and that was probably because of all the stress that came with searching for the book. But she kept telling herself, she just had to keep searching.

But then, her stomach growled as she made her way to the non-fiction section.

"That's like the eighth time since we got here.." Renge groaned with her teeth gritted," You can just eat yourself for all I care."

"Hey, maybe you should take a break Renge." Renny said from inside her bag," It's no good working on an empty stomach."

"But, what if the book magically appears out of nowhere the second I leave the bookstore?" Renge pointed out.

"It won't matter because you'll be too out of energy to get it." Renny answered neutrally.

Renge didn't see it like that before and agreed with him," I saw a frozen yogurt place down the street. And I guess while I'm at it I'll get some for Kanari. She's probably starving in her hotel suite."

Kanari sat upright on the bed and searched her bag for her phone, becoming bored of playing minesweeper on her laptop as she didn't have access to the WiFi. She couldn't feel for her phone in her bag and then decided to dump out her bag. She rummaged through the contents that spilled out and her phone was nowhere in sight. She then had a sinking feeling crawl up inside her upon realizing what must've happened.

She looked up and saw Chiyo reading her book diligently and taking notes from it, Yugure had already left to see her friends.

"Chi, I need you to call my phone." Kanari pleaded.

"Ok," Chiyo responded with a small sigh as she took her phone out from her pocket. She dialed Kanari's number and put it on speaker.

Someone picked up and the two of them listened intently.

"Hello? Who is this?" Ando asked from the other end of the phone. "Your name on Kana's phone is Chiyo, so I guess you must be one of her friends. She's not here right now. She moved out and forgot her phone. But, I don't think you'll be able to contact her anytime soon. Unless, you're with her and she told you to call her phone. In that case, you can't have your phone back until you come home and let mom dye your hair back to it's normal colour. See ya!"

"Smart kid." Chiyo remarked as she watched Kanari pace around her room in panic.

"Now what am I going to do?!" Kanari questioned as she paced even more," I know! I'll sneak into my own house!"

"You might get arrested for that." Chiyo pointed out flatly.

"But it's my house! I still technically live there! Half my stuff is still there!" Kanari claimed.

"But if she doesn't want you in the house-! Ugh, never mind. Just do what you want." Chiyo declared as she went back to her book.

"Will do." Kanari declared as she scurried out of the hotel suite. As she ran into the elevator, she took a second glance at Chiyo and the suite before stepping foot in the elevator.

"Is my suite...Suite 607?" Kanari wondered aloud anxiously.

When the elevator came down to the lobby, she saw Natsuhi talking on the phone with somebody.

"I'm sorry? You...what? Alright, ok. I'll be there in a few moments." Natsuhi affirmed," Suite 403 right? Ok, I'll see you soon."

Natsuhi got up from her desk and went to the elevator. Kanari then ducked and hid behind a nearby plant large enough to hide her entire body as Natsuhi got in the elevator. Kanari then decided to follow Natsuhi up to Suite 403. It really wasn't any of her business to do so, but hey, at least she wasn't calling for room service. Kanari jogged up a flight of stairs and arrived on the fourth floor, looking for Suite 403.

When she found the suite, she pressed her ear up against the door to hear what was going on in the room.

In the room, Natsuhi stood in front of a girl who appeared to be about sixteen years old with platinum blonde hair that came to her chin and dark brown eyes sitting cross-legged on a double bed.

"Thank you for coming Miss Kogane," The girl said between sniffles.

"You're welcome and you can just call me Natsuhi." Natsuhi admitted as she sat down next to the girl," Now, what's seems to be the problem Miyaku?"

"I need to go home.." Miyaku bawled as she buried her face into the pillow she had been clutching in her hands.

Natsuhi lightly patted her on the back in a comforting manner, well aware of the fact that Miyaku wasn't from here but in fact from Nobara, a town very, very far from here that was about an hour away by plane.

"I thought, after all I had been through before I moved that leaving home would be nothing. That this would be good for me. But, I keep hitting dead-ends. I can barely keep the two jobs I have and even with them combined, it's almost impossible to pay for everything from food, to transportation. I can barely save forty dollars. I had to move here in the hotel because I couldn't pay for my apartment."

"You're not saying, you want to leave forever, are you?" Natsuhi asked cautiously.

"I don't know, because if I left, I'd feel guilty because I gave up. But, it's so hard not to. I mean, all I want right now is to be with my family, with the holidays coming up. I would give anything just to see them and spend Christmas at home just like any other year. Maybe, if I saw them, I would feel less disheartened, maybe..."

Miyaku had this vacant look in her eye that made Natsuhi feel quite concerned for her. Natsuhi looked down in her lap, wondering what she should do.

"What if I paid for your flight back home?" Natsuhi offered. Miyaku's hanging head shot immediately and she looked at Natsuhi, her eyes already filled up with guilt.

"Natsuhi, I could never do that!" Miyaku claimed," I don't think I could pay you back with-"  
'Consider it a Christmas gift, alright?" Natsuhi requested.

Only a little hesitant now, Miyaku gave Natsuhi a nod of approval, followed by a very large hug.

"Natsuhi..." Kanari began, finally taking her ear away from the wall.

"Now this is something worth telling the owner." Someone from behind Kanari remarked in a snide tone. Kanari spun around and saw the man at the desk from earlier, dialing a number on his phone.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kanari barked as she laid eyes on the man.

"Terminating Miss Kogane's employment." The man sneered as he continued to dial the number.

"Why would you do such a thing?" Kanari interrogated as she stood in front of the door, having a premonition that the man might try and enter the room.

"Because, fellow employee or not, Ms Kogane has violated a hotel policy." The man answered as he held the phone to his ear.

"And what policy is that?"

"Help within reason." He responded," She's in no position to pay for a guest's flight home."

"I take it you've never heard of compassion." A voice that sounded like Zephora's stated from the other side of the hallway.

The two of them found Zephora and in an instant, Zephora removed his Inner Scholar.

The man dropped onto the ground and Kanari took a step back, now bracing up against the doorway. Her pulse quickened, knowing she wasn't able to contact any of the other Cures and may have to fight this battle all on her own. If of course, the Inner Scholar was turned into a Delinquous, which hadn't yet occurred. Maybe she could delay this from happening and try to find Chiyo in the meanwhile.

"Hey, uh...look at that!" Kanari improvised, before realizing useless her decoy was when using it on Zephora, who never opened her eyes.

"At what?" Zephora asked as she looked up for a moment. Within that moment, Kanari lunged for the Inner Scholar and sprinted to the elevator.

"You give that thing back this instant!" Zephora shouted menacingly as Kanari got into the elevator.

"Not happening." Kanari retorted, sounding mildly distressed as she watched Zephora run to the elevator. Thankfully, the elevator closed before she could reach them, but that was likely because she had to hold up her dress awkwardly as she ran.

Kanari noticed the Inner Scholar beginning to squirm and thrash relentlessly in her hand. It made her wonder if it was because corrupted Inner Scholars didn't like being held, or because it knew she was a Pretty Cure.

"Huh, you must be really tainted if you aren't able to tell what's good for you and what's not." Kanari remarked as the elevator doors opened to the seventh floor. She then ran to her suite and found Chiyo lying on the single bed, still working on her homework.

"We got a problem." Kanari declared, startling Chiyo who had yet to realize Kanari entered the room. She held out the corrupted Inner Scholar in front of Chiyo and the brunette simply looked at it in complete confusion.

"How did you even get this?" Chiyo questioned.

"Never mind that!" Kanari demanded," We need to try and purify before Zephora can take it!"

Just then, the girls heard the cry from a Delinquous echo out within the halls of the floor.

The girls dashed out of the room and encountered a Delinquous made from a fake plant in front of the elevators. Chiyo stepped back and bumped into the door of the suite, while Kanari simply stared down the Delinquous, wondering who's Inner Scholar this one could've been made from.

"That girl!" Kanari thought to herself, referring to Miyaku.

"I'll be taking that." Zephora declared, unleashing an entanglement of thorn-filled vines towards Kanari's arm.

Kanari froze up in an instant as the vines came rushing towards her, and in a split-second, Chiyo pushed her out of the way.

"Watch out!" Chiyo shouted as she pushed Kanari out of the way. In an instant, Chiyo was pinned up against the wall by the vines.

Kanari looked at her in regret of her own actions as she watched Chiyo squirm around within the vines. She then looked at her hands and realized the Inner Scholar was no longer with her.

"Looking for something?" Zephora asked in a near playful tone as she fused the Inner Scholar with the carpet underneath them.

"Delinquous!" The monstrous carpet bellowed as it came to live, sweeping Kanari off her feet in the process.

Kanari gritted her teeth as she winced back the pain that came with that fall and took out her pen, while creating a light-show of blue as she shouted,

"Pretty Cure, study session!"

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!"

Arithmetic darted her eyes between the two Delinquouses, trying to figure out how she was going to fight the two of them on her own. She looked over to Chiyo, who was still struggling to break free from the vines. She then darted up to Chiyo to try and aid her in her escape from the vines, but the Delinquouses were too quick. The carpet took up the position of body-guarding Chiyo while the plant Delinquous sparred with Arithmetic.

She threw as many punches as she possibly could in hopes that she could just knock the Delinquous down senseless, if only for a few moments so she could free Chiyo. But, the longer she fought with the Delinquous, the more futile her efforts felt. She kept on attacking though, while beginning to feel guilty for all the trouble she caused for not only Chiyo, but for everyone else from today. Swiftly, the Delinquous then slammed her into a wall. Arithmetic took a deep breath, feeling as if she created a crater from the impact of her collision with the wall. As she slid down the wall, she struggled to get up to her feet, her legs quaking ceaselessly as she tried to. She then looked up at the Delinquous in disdain as she wobbled up.

"Pretty Cure, Quadratic Termination!" Arithmetic cried out as she entrapped the Delinquous in a three dimensional octagon.

She then sprinted up to Chiyo and untangled her from the vines as she kicked the other Delinquous out of the way.

"Thanks." Chiyo said as she took out her pen," Pretty Cure, study session!"

"The subject of generations past with tales that are sure to last, Cure History!"

The Cures stood, backs against each other, as they stared down the Delinquouses.

"You know, it's really not safe of us to fight them in the hotel." History pointed out in a whisper.

Arithmetic nodded in response and said," But I don't see how we're going to get them outside."

"Follow my lead." History said imperatively," Over here!"

The Delinquouses followed History who ran, and actually did cartwheels as she led them to the balcony of Arithmetic's suite. One more cartwheel led them onto the balcony and Arithmetic looked at the back of Delinquouses seeming quite puzzled.

History then motioned Arithmetic near her and the two of them kicked the Delinquouses off of the balcony.

Arithmetic winced as she heard the sound of the Delinquouses making contact with the ground beneath them.

"Come on, the Delinquouses will break our fall." History declared as she and Arithmetic jumped off of the balcony. Arithmetic did as told and jumped off with her fellow Cure, pressing her eyes shut as she did so.

When she opened her eyes she was surprised to see not only herself in one piece standing atop of the Delinquouses with History, but also Cure Literature and Science standing in front of them.

"We thought you guys would never leave the hotel." Literature remarked in a wry tone while Science a little.

Arithmetic gawked and gasped out,"When did you-?!"

"-I called them while I was in the vines." History debriefed.

Arithmetic gave her a thumbs up and the two of them leapt off of the Delinquouses.

Literature and Arithmetic took on the plant Delinquous while History and Science took on the carpet Delinquous. The red-blue combo fought long and hard, Literature opting out for kicks while Arithmetic delivered the punches. During all of this, the Delinquous was throwing razor sharp leaves towards the girls and they both were experiencing difficulty in dodging them. Literature could've even sworn that one of them had sliced open one of her cheeks. Literature then hopped up into the air and waited for the Delinquous to draw near to her, as Arithmetic threw it up to her.

She stepped on top of the Delinquous, but it was quick to notice her presence, and so, it formed a leaf and aimed it towards her. She jumped off backwards in a split-second, only to realize that she had just jumped off the plant. Just before she began to descend though, she was saved by a pale blue three-dimensional octagon.

She looked down at the octagon in surprise, and looked up at Arithmetic who had just sent the Delinquous crashing down into a field down below.

Arithmetic gave her a wink and the two chased after the Delinquous.

History and Science were evenly matched against their Delinquous, but it seemed like this Delinquous would just refuse to tire out. Countless attacks were delivered to both sides and yet, nothing.

"Pretty Cure, Archaic Blaze!" History called out as she set fire to the Delinquous. The fire died out quickly unfortunately and the Delinquous cornered Cure History in a matter of seconds.

"Pretty Cure, Atomic Pressure!" Science cried as she blew to the Delinquous to the side. The attack flung the Delinquous away so hard at such a quick rate that History couldn't help but gasp as she watched it get thrown to the side. Science brushed off her dress and looked at the astonished History in question,

"Is something wrong?"

History shook her head, not realizing how powerful Science's attacks really were up until now.

Zephora reappeared sitting on a canopy of a nearby store and watched as Arithmetic and Literature grew inches closer to her. Zephora snapped her hands and called out to the Delinquous," You've had your fun, now let's go searching for the book."

"You aren't going to find it anywhere here, I already checked." Literature stated with a small sigh.

Arithmetic looked over to her fellow Cure, that feeling of guilt rising up in her again. She had been a major burden to everyone today, and now it seemed that she was finally getting what she had coming to her.

"You're no better than that girl from earlier you know." Zephora remarked in a condescending manner," Taking advantage of everyone who crossed your path."

Arithmetic looked down in shame, feeling the sting of Zephora's words come to her like she would've never imagined.

"Hey, don't listen to her." Literature told her clad-in-blue fellow Cure,as she put her hands on her shoulders" That isn't true. We're your friends, and we'll always be there to try and help you out, no matter what. That's what friends are for, right?"

Arithmetic shrugged in response, causing Literature to arch her eyebrows at her.

"Ok, I guess you're right." Arithmetic declared reluctantly as she rolled her eyes.

"Now, let's finish this!" Literature exclaimed as the two returned to their fight with their Delinquous.

All it took was one final finishing blow from both pairs to defeat each of the Delinquouses. Once they were defeated, Science and Arithmetic nodded at each other.

"Pretty Cure, Problem solving Paradox!"

"Pretty Cure, Covalent Antidote!"

The atmosphere flickered to brilliant, eye-catching shades of blue and green, causing the Delinquouses to be purified with the Inner Scholars returning to their hosts.

"Well, that ends that." Arithmetic said as she de-transformed," By the way, I'm sorry for all the inconveniences I caused for you guys todays."

"Don't worry about it." Renge responded casually.

"Nope! I'm going to make it up to you guys." Kanari declared as she crossed her arms.

"And just how are you going to do that?" Chiyo interrogated.

"You're just going to have to find out next week!" Kanari exclaimed as she gave then girls a thumbs-up and a wink.

Chiyo narrowed her eyes at her, while Yugure giggled and Renge whispered to her in a desperate tone," Kanari, please don't do that!"

"Do what?" Kanari asked in an absolutely clueless manner, causing the rest of the girls to laugh, while Kanari just stared at them, still very confused.

Meanwhile, at Temptation, Zephora sat in the rooms that the denizens of Temptation usually resided in, but today it was vacated for reasons that were unknown to her. Zephora took deep breaths, questioning how she could let yet another defeat befall her. It was bad she let herself admit defeat again, but after what happened with Jika? She was hoping today wouldn't end like this, given the situation she was put into.

"Zephora! Have you lost your mind?" Jika clamored as she entered the room in panic.

"No, why? What are on earth are you-?"

"You weren't supposed to go today!" Jika claimed,"Temptasia said from now on, Vice is going to go after the Pretty Cure!"

"Oh, I had...no idea." Zephora declared in an unusually calm voice as she began to walk away," Oh well, better luck next time."

"Um, and one more thing.." Jika sputtered, making Zephora take a halt from her walking," B-because you went today instead of Vice, Temptasia put you on Speculum duty."

"She what?!" Zephora barked, making Jika jump.

"Sh-sh-she said it was you punishment for you know..." Jika claimed, all of a sudden feeling very, very weak.

Zephora didn't say another word, and left the room in the blink of an eye, leaving nothing but an deep purple rose covered in thorns.

Yugure walked and walked and walked until she found herself in a part of town that she wasn't exactly familiar with. But, thankfully, it didn't seem like an unsafe part of town. But even then, she still felt a tad nervous walking here on her own. She didn't feel like heading home just yet so she decided she was going to walk a little bit more and do some exploring. Feeling a little regretful in her choice, she looked for a bus stop as she walked and as she did, something caught her eye in the display of a store. She looked at the display, seeing what appeared to be the back of a grey compact mirror. She looked at it curiously. This couldn't have been what caught her eye, could it?

She went into the store, and looked around, nobody being in here except for the woman at the cash register and a man wandering around the limited aisles of the store. It was an interesting store to say the least, selling odd things such as hand-quilted comforters and sheets, some jewellry and mostly candles. But, there was one display that Yugure could help but feel drawn to. The display from the window was now in front of her and she continued to look at the compact mirror. There were other mirrors around her too, as well as handmade bracelets, but they didn't interest her.

She crouched down and looked into the mirror.

 _"Can you hear me?"_

Yugure flinched and jumped back, hoping she didn't attract any attention to herself when doing so. She blinked a few times, wondering if she was just hearing or if...

She cautiously held the compact mirror in her right hand, looking into her reflection. That voice, was unlike any she had ever heard. So feminine, yet deep and rich and gentle, but it gave her a bad feeling for some reason as the compact sat in her hands.

Yugure then decided to respond, to see if she actually was just hearing things," I can hear you."

 _"Good, I'm glad you can. Only the Pretty Cure can hear me anyways, Cure Science."_

Yugure took a large gulp and she stared down the mirror. It was suspicious enough that the mirror could talk but...it knew she was a Pretty Cure? Just how was that even possible?

"How do you know that?" Yugure asked uneasily in a whisper.

 _"I know many things, so don't be surprised."_ The voice said _," I need you to take me out of here."_

"Like, out of the store? Well, ok, how much are you-?"

 _"No, the woman at the cash register can't see me be taken! You need to take me without her watching."_ The voice instructed.

"Like...as in stealing?" Yugure questioned warily.

 _"It's not stealing if I don't belong to the store."_ The voice declared.

Yugure nodded and then, she put the compact away into her pocket as discreetly as she possibly could. Then, she tried playing it cool from there and as she walked out, she quickened her pace a bit, and then she ran as fast as she could.

The woman looked over to the display while she checked out the man's purchase. She was more than enraged to see the compact mirror gone, running out the door and looking for Yugure.

"Get back here right now!" The woman shouted as she watched the figure disappear. She wanted to run after her, but it seemed to be too late for that now.

"Temptasia's not going to like this..." She said with a groan.


	18. An imminent unexpected reality

Standing at the bus-stop was just killing Renge at this point, due to not only the insufferable amount of kids crowding around the bus-stop, but because of the ever so sharp wind blowing in her face. Yup, it only took a few days for winter to set in. With only a few days left until Christmas too. Renge took out her phone to check the time, groaning upon seeing fifteen minutes had past since school ended and yet, no sign of the bus. Renge stuffed her phone back into her pocket in an instant as her fingers began to freeze. Moving her fingers around in her pockets to regain feeling in them, Renge squinted into the distance, hoping she would be able to spot out a bus. But, no bus could be seen and while she was looking for the bus, she heard someone call her name.

"Hey Renge!"

Renge spun around, seeing a large boy with pale skin and very short brown hair behind her. To most, he was likely seen as an intimidating figure, but to Renge, he was an ok guy as he was also Nao's best friend.

"Hi Ushio," Renge responded.

"The bus is really late today huh?" Ushio remarked as he looked into the distance in hopes of seeing a bus. Renge joined him in looking.

"I have to go buy Christmas presents today after school, I was hoping to get to the mall at a good time, oh well." Ushio said with a small sigh.

"Well, at least the bus is here now," Renge replied as the bus stopped in front of them. Dozens of kids huddled around the entrance of the bus but unfortunately, it seemed to already be a little full, with only a handful of seats vacant, meaning some kids would ultimately have to be left behind to wait for another bus. Renge and Ushio boarded onto the bus, finding a pair of seats and sat beside each other.

"Um, speaking of presents..." Renge began abruptly," I've been having trouble finding something for Nao, would you have any idea what he would like?"

Renge looked at Ushio who began to think of what his best friend may have liked as a Christmas present. Renge stared as Ushio tried to come up with something, waiting patiently for an answer.

Ushio responded," Yellow clay."

"Yellow clay?" Renge repeated, just to make sure she heard him correctly.

"Yeah, Nao always makes clay figures whenever somebody gives him clay. They look pretty good too, and he said he wanted to make clay figure of a character from an anime he watched some time ago, and he said he needed yellow clay."

"Ok, thanks." Renge responded in a somewhat stoic manner. The two of them talked for a bit casually while they were still on the bus and Renge said goodbye to him as she got off at her stop. Once the bus left the station, she began to wonder curiously to herself,

"Why is it easier talking to my boyfriend's best friend, rather than my boyfriend himself?"

That night, she had made a mental note to herself to find out online whether or not the art store she had in mind carried yellow clay. In the meanwhile, she had more pressing things to do.

A typical Monday night for the most part, mom was off work, Hikaru was watching tv and Renge was left to herself in her room. What made this Monday night different from the rest however, was the fact that it was the last Monday before Christmas break. One last stretch before two weeks of freedom, but the week ahead of her wasn't as relaxed as she had hoped for. Renge opened up her backpack and laid out three binders. For her English class, she had to create a project where she was supposed to pitch a college course to students in a gallery walk. The project itself seemed easy, but the fact that there was so much content to this project, including translating and so forth, it proved itself to be quite the challenge for Renge under this time constraint, as it was due on Friday. For Literature, she needed to write a paper in response to the novel they had just read for class along with a quiz for the book on Friday. And for her Math class, she had to create a budget chart for career life choice project her teacher had assigned, along with what she planned to do after high-school that was due by, you guessed it, Friday.

Renge looked at all the binders sitting in front of her and let out a pained groan. Finishing all of this by Friday was going to prove itself to be quite the task, but, she told herself that she had something that could look forward to on Friday, so all her efforts would at least be rewarded.

On Friday, Renge was going to meet with her friends, including even Nao, after school at a cafe near Ozawa station. The thought of it made her heart skip a beat. Finally, another date with Nao, after what felt like a while since the last one. Friday could not come any sooner.

About an hour later, Yugure's volleyball practice had ended and she left in a hurry, not wanting to keep her mother waiting as she did promise she was going to pick her up from practice after school. Yugure ripped off her volleyball uniform and hastily buttoned up her blouse and dashed out of the change room as she scrambled to put one of her arms into her blazer.

Moments later, Yugure was outside of the school, in her winter coat, twisting her legs around each other in an attempt to warm them up. Though she had been sweating from practice, she was only kept warm for a couple of minutes, with the cold settling into her after being out long enough. She crossed her arms and looked around for her mother's van, though it didn't appear to be coming any time soon. Yugure sighed as she looked around, and then reminded herself that this was currently the least of her worries.

"Alright, remember girls, our tournament is on the sixteenth, so we've got to kick it into high gear during these next couple of practices!" Their coach, Ms Tachibana exclaimed a few weeks ago.

Ever since then, everyone on the team had been practicing tirelessly for the tournament, it was unlike anything Yugure had ever seen. Usually the team did work hard during practice, they all took volleyball quite seriously anyways, but today everyone seemed to be even more serious. It made sense to Yugure though, as most of the girls on the team were in third year just like her and wanted to go out with a bang, as it was going to be their last volleyball game during high-school.

Yugure's mother then pulled up near Yugure, who was now lost in thought about the tournament. She noticed her mom waiting for her and immediately rushed to the car.

"Did you wait long?" Shiho asked as she began to drive.

"Um, no not at all..." Yugure said as she looked outside. Only four-thirty now and it was already getting very dark, Yugure being unable to see anything ahead of them.

"How was practice today?" Shiho asked casually, darting her eyes to her rear-view mirror to see Yugure.

"It was alright. I've never seen everyone so...determined though. I guess that's what tournaments do to people." Yugure responded with a forced giggle," I can't believe my final volleyball tournament is in less than two days though. You're coming to my game right?"

"We'll have to wait and see.." Shiho replied indifferently," Someone said there was going to be some important meeting at the lab on Wednesday. Just hearsay as of now, but if it happens to be that there is in fact a meeting, I'm not sure sure I'll be able to attend your game.."

"Alright, it's ok!" Yugure said in an unusually cheerful but genuine tone," I'll just make sure I get someone to film it for you."

"So, you said you had a mock exam for your Chemistry unit in Science right?" Shiho asked curiously," Have you been studying?"

Yugure hesitated for a moment before answering," Yeah, I've been studying lots..."

A silence fell within the car, and Shiho kept her eyes to the road, not noticing the frown on Yugure's face that lasted for a few moments after she brought up the mock exam. She then pushed her hand into her bag in search of her phone and as she did so, her hands stumbled upon something that made her eyes widen.

That mirror she found (and stole) from that store a few days ago. It still amazed her that mirror convinced her to take it out of the store, but it made her wonder, why? She refused to open the compact again, and wasn't sure whether she should bring this up to the rest of the team or not, so for now, she kept it a secret.

During the night, Renge managed to finish at least half of her Literature paper, a quarter of her English project and got about maybe half of a quarter of that Math project. It had been awhile since she had done so much homework in one night. Prioritize, she kept telling herself, and everything would go just fine. Renge hated admitting it, but, having a lot of tasks to do was almost, fun for her. The thing that kept it from being fun though, was how much she was stressing over each assignment, to the point of making sure each project was without flaw, something she never found herself doing.

Kanari walked with Renge through the hallways, gaining a few stares as she walked with her, as some didn't recognize her with her now ash-blonde hair. Unfortunately, after her hair fiasco, her mom decided it was high-time for Kanari to dye her hair back. At that point, Kanari no longer felt like fighting her and was actually almost willing to let her mom dye her hair.

She noticed how uneasy Renge appeared and chose not to say anything until they came near to the back hallway of the school.

"So, when are you going to tell me what the problem is?" Kanari asked as she opened up her lunch box.

Renge didn't hear her question, as she was too busy watching Nao with his friends on the other end of the hallway. Looking at him brought her some ease, even if they weren't necessarily hanging around each other. Kanari snapped her fingers in front of Renge and brought her back to earth.

"Huh?" Renge asked as she blinked a couple of times.

"Is there something wrong?" Kanari asked her with a bit of concern.

"Nah, I'm fine." Renge said as reassuringly as she possibly could with a smile while opening her lunch box. That fake smile of hers wasn't disappearing anytime soon, so Kanari chose to drop the subject, knowing that she wasn't going to get any further with it.

"So, are you, Renny, and Topher still looking for you-know-what?" Kanari asked casually.

"Yeah, we aren't really getting anywhere though. It makes so mad that we haven't seen ever since that day..." Renge answered with a long, drawn out sigh.

Kanari then patted her on the shoulder," Everything happens for a reason, so don't be too hard on yourself about not getting the book, ok?"

Renge's dark eyes flickered from her to Nao before she replied," Yeah, you're right."

Later, during Kanari's walk home, she thought about how insincere Renge's response sounded to her at lunch. It annoyed her that she wasn't able to do anything for her best friend but, currently, she had bigger issues at hand. She stopped walking for a moment, now half way home. Snow fell from the sky, piling up at her feet and all around her as she walked. Even though it was dark, the snow still managed to twinkle and catch Kanari's eye as she looked down. She held out her hands and watched as a few snowflakes fell into them.

Snow always reminded Kanari of diamonds, as if they had been crushed and scattered on the ground considering how much they sparkled on the ground in large masses. Snow also reminded her that the year was coming to an end very shortly, less than a month.

In less than a month, the next year would come and that would be the same year they'd graduate. Kanari knew from there, things were going to feel more real in regards to graduating. It made her heart writhe a bit a the thought. In less than a year, high-school would be over for her. She looked at the small pile of snow accumulated in her hands and blew it away before shoving her hands back into her pockets. She then reminded herself than this year wasn't over just yet though, plus there were a few more events to happen this year before it came to an end.

"I wonder what turning seventeen's going to feel like..." Kanari wondered aloud as she looked up to the sky.

When Kanari got home, she was approached by her mom, who was wearing that usual stern expression of hers whenever she confronted Kanari, or on occasion, Sayaka. Kanari was tired out from her walk and just decided to let her mom scold her for whatever she did or didn't do.

"The University you applied to called." Mitsuko declared as she crossed her arms.

"And...?" Kanari trailed off, hoping her mom would finish for her.

"Your entrance exam is going to be on the fourteenth of January." She responded,"You better get to studying, do need a letter of reference by the way?"

"I don't remember..." Kanari trailed off with a sheepish grin as her mother sighed loudly.

"Find out soon, you don't have a lot of time left..." Mitsuko warned as she walked off into the kitchen. Kanari went upstairs and laid on her bed, her head swimming with thoughts. She went on her laptop and began searching up the University she was planning to attend, scanning over all of it's prerequisites. A couple of months ago, this was kinda exciting, looking at all the programs and thinking about being freed from the prison that was high-school. But, the closer she was to graduation with each and every day, the more nervous she started to feel. Everything about post-secondary life was becoming a reality, slowly but surely. And, although the idea of being able to leave high-school was still appealing to Kanari, the thought of University became more and more intimidating.

Would her life change once she was in university? Of course it would, but the question was how much? She was definitely a different person than the girl she was on the first day of high-school, but that was a change that almost felt inevitable, like growing pains. The idea of becoming a person that would be unrecognizable to the Kanari of today made her feel conflicted and she didn't understand it. Sure, change may be a good thing, but...how much change would she be able to control? With each day passing by, those days of high-school were soon going to become nothing more than a memory, an experience long gone and soon enough, she would have to face the real world.

Her heart was writhing again, and of course, she felt immobile from what felt like the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on her door.

"What?!" She barked, seeing not her mom but rather, her brother peering his head into her bedroom.

"I'm sorry for bothering you...but..." Ando stated, with his eyes downcast,"...Have you decided what you want for your birthday?"

Kanari's eyes widened in guilt and she chewed on her lip as she tried to think of an answer that would be sufficient enough for him.

Kanari answered,"How about that new video game that you wanted the uh...what was it? The..."

"The Android Annihilation Syndication?" Ando asked.

"Yeah, that's the one! That's what I want for my birthday!" Kanari exclaimed, cheering up Ando in an instant.

He nodded downstairs and ran downstairs to tell Mitsuko. Kanari shook her head, and her mouth lifted into a half-grin. The game had a seventeen and up rating, but hey, if he could stomach the violence, then why not? She then closed her lap-top, deciding that she had seen enough regarding university for the night.

Renge pushed her Literature and English binders off her bed swiftly as she turned her laying on her stomach to her back. Head under her pillow, Renge held her phone between her hands and looked at a few pictures from her phone in review of this year. Of course, she only got this phone in July, so she could only review about less than half of this year with the Aiphone. She decided she was done with homework for the night and put her binders on the ground. Now, she was done with her Literature project and very close to completing her English project. All that was left was the majority of her Math project. Renge felt proud of herself. After all that hard work, she no longer had to feel as stressed out as she originally did. Now she could bask in some down time. Her mom and brother were out tonight, went off to watch her old middle school's Christmas concert. They asked Renge to come, but she refused, claiming she had too much work on her hands tonight.

It was times like this when Renge wondered what her life would've been like if she went to Seinori during middle school. Had she gone then, the playing field would've been evened out, as most students wouldn't have known each other.

Oh well, it was pointless to wonder of a reality that never was, Renge knew that. But, to think about a reality that had yet to happen...

After some thinking, Renge figured out why she was ok with all this work from the week. It was because it was distracting her mind away from the fact that a new year was going to come very soon. A year that would be full of things that Renge herself wasn't so sure about. For starters, a new semester would begin shortly after the new year, which meant new classes and a new club. Plus, she had a spare next semester! That part was exciting, but the idea of a new club left her with a bittersweet feeling.

Since Art club was one of the clubs that lasted only for the one semester, Renge decided that for next semester, she'd picked the Drama club. She took Drama club for the first time last year and while she enjoyed it, she doubted that she'd find people like Shinko, Marco and Nao in the club alongside her.

It seemed that was the price she had to pay to join a club she loved so much.

Renge looked outside her window, watching the snow pile up into her backyard. Only three days left until winter break and then, she wouldn't see any of her friends until the new year. She looked across at her room, seeing the group of presents she had just wrapped a few hours ago for her friends. She smiled at them and sighed as she thought about how quickly time was flying.

Much later into the night, around perhaps, two or three in the morning, Chiyo woke up in an instant, feeling very uneasy as she arose in bed. Everything in the room was dark and the only thing that brought some, if not, any light to her room was her digital clock on her nightstand. She dreamt of nothing more than the school field, where students would sometimes have lunch if the weather permitted so. It was very warm, and sunny like it had been either June or September. She was hanging out with her friends from class, and then she looked around for Renge, Kanari, or Yugure, knowing that the girls always took advantage of a nice day by having lunch outside. She couldn't see them anywhere and she somehow just knew leaving her friends right now wasn't something she was able to do. She had no idea what could've possibly happened to them until she woke up.

In Chiyo's dream, the girls had already graduated.

Normally, when the thought of her Pretty Cure teammates came to her, she thought neutrally of it. Yeah, some day soon, they were going to leave with their diplomas and head off to face the real world. It happened to everyone (mostly) and soon enough, it would happen to Chiyo too.

 _"Hey, did you hear Ms. Kobayashi's retiring?" Michiru informed the girls as they got dressed for gym._

 _"Yeah! It's such a shame, and I was hoping to have her as our Literature teacher next year!" Another of Chiyo's friends, Kaiya, interjected._

 _"I also heard the school's already looking for her replacement!" Michiru declared in a whisper._

 _Kaiya frowned a little at Michiru's statement and said," Isn't it a bit too early to start looking for a replacement though?"_

 _"Not really, we're almost into the new year anyways..." Michiru pointed out._

It was strange to think come in a few months when the new year came upon them, Chiyo would be a third-year. But, it honestly didn't really scare her. If anything, she was just fine with it, wishing to get out of high-school as soon as she could.

Chiyo shook her head and tried falling back to sleep, as she had things she had to do the next day that required her to not be tired. Such as, working on that giant project for Literature class and go to Yugure's volleyball tournament with Renge and Kanari.

Waking up early was something that never really came naturally to Yugure, but, today, she awoke early as if it was nothing. Probably because she was getting all jittery about the volleyball game today. For once, she also woke up at a decent time too. Not too late, maybe a minute too early, but either way, she didn't need to rush out of bed and race down the streets to get to class before the teacher. Perhaps this was going to be the most calming moment of her day, as it would be likely that would be met with a swarm of girls before school started, clamoring about how they couldn't wait to see the tournament after school. The amount of eager, almost passionate, fans from school never failed to surprise Yugure.

But, they couldn't change the fact that it was still going to be her final volleyball game at Seinori. She knew she had to give it her all today, even if it meant accepting the fact that she would no longer be apart of a team she grew to love over the years.

Just as expected, as Yugure arrived at the school, a bunch of girls, and even some guys crowded around her. Yugure was left to try and find air with this enclosure, along with her composure as the group began asking her numerous questions.

"So are you nervous?"

"Is Hanako serving first?"

"I hope you guys win! Good luck!"  
"Have you ever seen them play? They don't _need_ luck!"

"Um, kinda, yes, and thank you!" Yugure sputtered awkwardly as she broke free from the enclosure as she power-walked to class. She shook her head, unimpressed with herself. To think, she had actually put an effort in preparing herself mentally this morning for a moment like this today and yet, she still couldn't help but nearly get overwhelmed by the attention. It wasn't her fault though.

Once she got to class, she noticed she had a few minutes to spare, and quickly pulled out her Science textbook from her bag, flipping to the Chemistry section. As she read it over for what felt like the hundredth time this week, she drew out a large sigh as she felt a headache getting ready to come over her.

"No matter what, it still doesn't make sense..." Yugure sighed as she bent the pages of the book before flipping to the back, where she had stored a few pages of notes in. She felt guilty when looking down at the page, remembering how her father tried helping her with studying last night. She pretended that she understood her dad when he tried explaining to the best of her abilities, but it clearly didn't help her in the wrong run.

Yugure then pushed the book back into her bag, deciding that she would try her luck with this after school, when her tournament was over.

"I have better things to focus on anyway, like my tournament today." Yugure declared to herself under her breath," Oh, and the pizza lunch for the team later!"

During lunch, Renge sat beside Nao in the unusually empty back hall as she nibbled at her sandwich while reading a book. She wanted to say something, anything, to dispel the silence, but Nao was a boy of few words, plus it wasn't like she had a lot to say. She felt awful for letting the silence settle in, she felt like it was her fault as she was the more lively of the two. What made her feel even worse about the silence was that, this wasn't the first time this had happened. She had spent a few lunches lately, just sitting beside him, and while she enjoyed just being in his company, she felt at fault for not even engaging in conversation at this point. Renge had tried to do things like prepare conversations in her head, but then she'd psyche herself out and rendered herself only able to make a conversation last about two minutes, leaving them in about an hour of silence.

As Renge read her book, she chewed on her lip thinking about what she could say to Nao right now. Anything would've sufficed at this point. But, no matter what, Nao managed to carry this indifferent air around himself, like he was unapproachable. Not like a popular kid, but like...someone who was just worlds away. Renge then wondered what she could do to bring him back to planet Earth, feeling like she may've had the power to do such as she was his girlfriend.

Renge then checked the time on her phone and was taken aback as she looked at the time. Only five minutes until lunch was over? Renge then reminded herself that there was something she had to do before Nao left.

"Um, so...do you think, you'll still be able to come to the cafe on Friday?" Renge asked in what actually sounded like a panicked voice.

Nao, who had been playing a game on his tablet the entire hour, responded by simply saying," I think we should take a break..."

Renge double-blinked in confusion while tilting her head, repeating," A break? What kind of break?"

Nao then stood up, collecting his things before doing so, coming close to leaving Renge to figure out what he meant on her own.

"How long of a break?" Renge cautiously asked, her heart aching and beating at a very irregular rate," Wait a minute! Are you-?"

Renge felt her heart sink, as she looked down, trying to figure out what he was trying to say. Only one thing came to mind and it hurt her to think it, but, it made her ask aloud,

"Are you breaking up with me?"

"I guess."

Nao walked off, out of the hall and into his class. Renge looked down, her lip quivering as she stood there by herself. Her thoughts clustering with feelings of distress and heartbreak. She shook her head, feeling as if she had it coming to her, but why this was happening to her was something that she couldn't exactly figure out.

"It's because I'm shy, I'm always anxious and I'm scared to start conversations..." Renge thought in head, nearly bringing herself to tears,"...I'm just too awkward."

Going to class was the last thing Renge wanted to do, it really wouldn't have done her any good to go when she was feeling so terrible. Renge tried remembering what she was supposed to do in class today. She remembered that all they were doing in Math class was working on their projects in the computer room, leaving Renge wondering if that would've been enough to distract her from her current problem. Only one way to find out.

She walked into the classroom, head hanging down and her eyes stinging from trying to hold back tears.

During class, she pretended that everything was ok as she worked on her project, but on the inside, she felt unable to keep her composure. But she needed to, she didn't want to burden anybody with her problem, so for now, she just stored all of those awful feelings within herself, pretending they weren't there.

After school, Renge managed to pull herself together, just in time for Yugure's tournament. She decided that after the tournament, she would go out and buy a cup of coffee, as a pick-me-up for today. But, before she left the school to head to the bus stop, she heard her name being called out by a familiar voice.

Renge spun around to see where the voice came from, and found Kokoro jogging up to her. Renge smiled to Kokoro as the brunette caught up to her.

"Hey Kokoro, what's up?" Renge asked Kokoro, who was now panting a little.

"I just wanted to see if we were all still going to the cafe by Ozawa station on Friday after school." Kokoro responded.

"Oh yeah, of course." Renge answered, feeling slightly distraught having forgot about the whole thing up until now.

"Is something the matter?" Kokoro asked her out of concern.

"Yeah, um..." Renge began feeling hesitant to say anything more. She then looked at Kokoro, who stared back at her with her very bright green eyes.

"...Nao broke up with me." Renge confessed dejectedly, averting her gaze from Kokoro.

"Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that." Kokoro said as Renge simply shrugged awkwardly. Even though Renge wasn't looking directly at her, Kokoro could just how hurt she was.

"It's ok, maybe with some luck...I can fix things." Renge declared," Anyways, I'm going to see a friend's volleyball tournament so I'll see you on Friday alright?"

"Ok, see ya!" Kokoro responded as Renge bolted out the school doors to the bus stop.

With a deep breath, Renge tried to release all those feelings of hurt from herself as she got to the bus stop and onto the bus with Kanari and Chiyo.

Yugure's tournament was to be held at Nagase High-school and the members of the volleyball were excused from their last period classes to get there early. Yugure took note of how jittery some of her fellow teammates were becoming and looked at them with concern wishing that she could've been able to do something for them.

When Renge, Kanari and Chiyo arrived at the school, they all walked to the school doors briskly as they looked at the groups of kids from the school hanging around.

"Kanari!" The girls heard a voice shout. Kanari spun around and saw Tsubaki running up towards them.

"Go on ahead." Kanari instructed her two friends imperatively as Tsubaki caught up to them.

"Hey Tsubaki, how's it going?" Kanari greeted in a somewhat stiff manner.

"Good, I haven't really talked to you since our basketball tournament two weeks ago." Tsubaki replied," You played really well that day."

"Thanks, so I assume you're here to watch Yugure?" Kanari asked, with Tsubaki nodding in return.

"Yeah, then after this I have to do some last-minute shopping for some of my friends in class..." Tsubaki answered sheepishly as the girls began to walk very slowly to the school.

"I see. Finished all my shopping for both Christmas and my birthday." Kanari declared as she placed her hands behind her head.

"You buy your own birthday presents?" Tsubaki asked with a slight chuckle, Kanari nodded in response," When is your birthday?"

"The twenty-fifth." Kanari answered with a very smug grin on her face.

"That's Christmas day." Tsubaki said in realization," How interesting. By the way, that reminds me..."

Tsubaki then began to fish something out from her bag and handed it to Kanari. It was a small lime green and turquoise drawstring pouch with little white camellia flowers designed on it.

"Your deodorant stick is inside it. At least I think it's yours, it was lavender-jasmine and it's scent reminded me of you. I think you may've forgot in the change room at the tournament." Tsubaki explained as Kanari simply stared at the pouch.

"Thanks." Was all Kanari could manage, bewildered by how pretty the little pouch was. The two drew near to the school, with Kanari walking a step behind Tsubaki to open the pouch. Inside was her deodorant stick and a necklace with a pendant on it.

"A seahorse?" Kanari said in very low voice before her gaze flicker to the back of Tsubaki. She wondered if this was supposed to be a Christmas present of some sort, but she didn't bother to ask.

The teams were all assembled soon enough and they were currently practicing amongst themselves in the large gym.

Chiyo and Kanari looked at the school's team, to see if there was anybody they recognized.

Kanari spotted out Mitsuru, a girl from her homeroom who seemed to have her entire life after high school figured out. A couple of months, Kanari had quietly made fun of her and her plans but now, she felt a growing envy rise up in her as she watched Mitsuru play without a care in the world.

Chiyo eyed Mitsuru as well, only somewhat familiar with the girl. She didn't know much about Mitsuru, aside from the fact that the girl was a year older than her. Which meant being a year, not even a year, months, closer to getting to move on with her life.

They both rolled their eyes at her as they continued to watch her practice.

Yugure practiced her serving against the wall, taking a deep breath with each and every serve. She shut her eyes to focus for a moment and reopened them once she was ready to serve. The serve was packed with power and bounced violently against the wall. Yugure went to go get the ball, seeing Hanako holding it in her hands.

"Thanks..." Yugure said sheepishly as she took the ball back from the girl. Hanako merely smiled and returned to practicing with another girl.

"I bet Hanako doesn't have any trouble with Chemistry." Yugure mused as she walked to the basket where all the volleyballs were to put hers away. When she put her ball away, she looked up as something lime-yellow caught her eye.

Tsubaki had just arrived and sat at the corner of the bleachers.

"And I know Tsubaki has no trouble with Chemistry." Yugure declared to herself quietly before the tournament began.

Yugure's team gathered around their coach to inform them on who they were playing first.

"The court's going to be divided into two, so that two teams may play simultaneously." Their coach informed them," You girls are playing first, against Kuroyuki on the second court."

After being assigned to positions, the girls all went to the court, some of them, including Yugure beginning to feel nervous.

"This is going to be so much fun. I can feel it in my bones." Temptasia exhaled as she hugged herself," Jika, you know what to do."

Jika nodded attentively, feeling full of jitters as she looked at Temptasia before her. They stood on the rooftop of Nagase High-school by themselves. Jika looked towards Temptasia, not realizing up until now just how short her leader really was.

Her mauve eyes glimmered as she looked at Jika," Ready?"

"I was born ready."

Jika then appeared at the top of the scoreboard, surveying the area and searching for the Pretty Cure.

"One...two...three..." Jika counted as she pointed to Renge, Kanari and Chiyo who were all too busy watching Yugure's game to take notice of her.

Jika looked to the court to see if her last Cure was there. She spotted Yugure and simply crooned,"...four."

She set her gaze on Mitsuru and cried out while ripping out her Inner Scholar," Run amok, Delinquous!"

Mitsuru suddenly dropped to the ground and the team came rushing around her. The coach looked at her fainted player in distress before the Delinquous caught their attention moments later.

The gym was evacuated and the girls rushed back in with their pens in hand.

"Oh no, the Pretty Cure have arrived..." Jika cried with very little fear, as if she was just pretending to be scared.

"Invading one of our own members tournament and terrorizing a group of innocent people is something we will absolutely not stand for!" Renge declared valiantly.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" The girls shouted as a swarm of red, blue, yellow and green lights emerged and enveloped them.

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature introduced.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic introduced.

"The subject of generations past with that are sure to last, Cure History!" History introduced.

"The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!" Science introduced.

"Making learning fun, together as one, we are... Academia Pretty Cure!" The Cures introduced as they each stuck a pose.

The Delinquous was made from a bench and it stomped towards the girls furiously.

Literature and Arithmetic delivered a plethora of punches to the Delinquous as History ascended into the air and place her hands in front of herself shouting out,

"Pretty Cure, Legacy Tempest!"

The Delinquous wobbled backwards and fell flat on it's back, but got up immediately afterwards. It scrambled up to it's feet and immediately charged towards Cure Science.

"Pretty Cure, Atomic Pressure!" She yelled out, only to find a puddle of green ooze on the floor in front of her.

"What?" Science said incredulously, looking at her hands as Arithmetic came up and kicked the Delinquous from the side, blasting it to the other end of the gym. She shook her head and returned to fighting the Delinquous with the girls.

Literature then darted up towards the Delinquous and jumped up off from the back board of the basketball net to deliver a kick into the Delinquous' face. She landed the kick but, in the midst of animosity from being hit, the Delinquous grabbed a hold of Literature's leg and sent her flying to the other side of the gym.

Literature yelped out in the fear and her breath was stopped before realizing that she had been saved by a two-dimensional blue platform.

The Cure clad in red's mouth hung open as her knees rattled against each other as she looked at the platform.

"Anytime." Arithmetic declared with a snap and a wink. Literature rolled her eyes, jumping off from the platform to return to the battle.

Soon, Literature noticed that the Delinquous wasn't putting up much of a fight. It was unlike the other Delinquouses as it lacked the motivation and the ruthlessness the others possessed. But for the most part, it seemed abundant in stamina.

Even the other Cures were noticing it, but they didn't want to complain. It made Arithmetic feel like finally they were getting a break for once, but History and Science appeared to be a little wary of the fact that this Delinquous appeared to be so weak.

But, in a turn of events, the Delinquous hyped itself up and started to take the fight seriously.

The Delinquous picked up History and Science and threw them into the bleachers, with Science getting stuck in one of the basketball nets. History gritted her teeth, trying to wince back the pain that was coming from her lower back and she stood up slowly.

"Now we're talking." Arithmetic chuckled as she and Literature dashed up towards the Delinquous. Literature stopped running for a moment as Arithmetic leapt up to deliver a punch to the Delinquous in the face. But instead, the Delinquous grabbed her by the ankle, swinging her around rapidly and throwing her towards the bleachers. Once the Delinquous let go of her, Literature screamed out,

"Pretty Cure, Assassinating Diamante!"

The Delinquous was entrapped inside the pale red diamond and as Arithmetic flew past Literature's head, she grabbed onto the her, only to drag Arithmetic down and evade colliding with the bleachers while making herself fall in the process.

"Why the hell did I do that?" Literature asked herself between clenched teeth as she rubbed her head tenderly.

"But look!" Arithmetic cheered as she pointed to the Delinquous. It appeared to be defeated as it laid haplessly on the ground. Literature felt her lips curling into a smile as she looked at the Delinquous. She zipped over to it and looked down gallantly.

"Well, time to wrap things up." Literature declared with a smirk while she out her arms.

"Pretty Cure, Language of Justice!" She cried as the atmosphere turned red in mid-sentence. But, instead of the Delinquous getting purified, it seemed her attack did the exact opposite of what it was supposed to do. Instead, the Delinquous just grew twice it's size, shape-shifting into what resembled both some form of death ray and a rocket, with little circular windows all around it.

"Wha...what just happened?" Literature asked in a whisper as her heart dropped. The Cures all gazed at the Delinquous in absolute fear, wondering how such a thing could've happened.

"You took the bait my dear!" A voice proclaimed condescendingly. Literature shot her head to the direction she heard the voice from and saw a small woman with a rather sinister look on her face . She must've been around only five feet tall, no taller than five foot one. Dressed in red and black with her silky white hair styled with half of it in a bun at the side of her hair, she had a rather gothic appearance to herself. Her skin was so pale, as if she had never stepped foot outside and on her red and black corset top laid grey bow with a ruby red jewel on it.

"Who are you?!" Literature spat as she took a step back.

"I am Temptasia." She introduced in a complacent voice as she examined the Pretty Cure, predominantly Cure Literature.

"Great, that means we can just end this all now!" Literature declared viciously as she charged up to Temptasia in an instant. Just then, a tall figure with grayish skin, teal spiked blue hair and a torn up military uniform with the lower half of his face masked appeared and protected Temptasia. The man conjured up an electric blue and grey shield around her as her grabbed Literature by her hair.

"Thank you Vice," Temptasia said gently in a soft tone as Literature looked at Vice in absolute peril.

"Ok I get it, I've got strong hair. Now could you please let me go?" Literature stammered as she looked into the eyes of Vice, taking notes of the fact that the whites of his eyes were blue and his irises were a deep grey.

He dropped Literature to the ground without a single care and darted towards Arithmetic and History. He was quick, inhumanely quick, being able to spar simultaneously with Arithmetic and History who were barely keeping up. They had barely dodged numerous attacks from him, they had never actually had to fight someone directly from Temptation until now. Literature tried coming in from behind to attack, but he saw her coming and immediately blasted her into the scoreboard.

Literature let out a frustrated groan as she fell onto the floor after the collision.

"Vice, you need to wrap things up. We're going to have to have to start searching soon." Temptasia called out to him.

Science just separated herself from the basketball net and rushed over to help her friends, only to thrown to the side in an instant.

"So, are they going to try and search for the book...with that thing?" Science asked quietly as she looked at the Delinquous.

"Then, maybe I can do something to stop them!" Science declared as she stood up.

As Science tried to run to the Delinquous without grabbing Vice's attention, Literature, Arithmetic and History continued their battle with him, barely keeping up. It was shameful to think that even with the three of them all teaming up on him, they were still no match. Not only was he was fast, he was tremendously powerful, with one small punch throwing each of the girls across the gym. Maybe even further if they weren't indoors. He was unrelenting, unlike anything the Cures had ever been up against. But, despite that fact, they all knew they had to pull themselves together and try to defeat him. But, it seemed impossible at this rate.

Arithmetic was thrown in History and Vice just marched over Literature, who was now feeling incredibly helpless. She was quaking in her boots, but she knew now really wasn't the time for that, so she mustered up all the courage that she had and did the only thing she knew she could do to power herself up.

"What makes you think you have the right to storm in on our own fellow Cure's tournament and try to raise hell? Your actions have raised terror in innocent individuals and for that, I won't let you do what you please. You don't have the right to do the things you do to those people from today. And I won't let you leave to try and take the book either, you and your affiliation have done more than enough in regards to reeking uncalled for havoc on not only Univer City but my realm as well! So, you either surrender or I'll make you do so right this instant."

Temptasia began to laugh from the side," Such big talk for a heart-broken girl."

Literature's eyes widened in shock as she tried figuring out how Temptasia found that out, not even thinking about the stares she was likely going to receive from Arithmetic, History and Science in a matter of moments.

"You aren't fit to be a leader. You're submissive and timid. You may be able to pretend to be heroic, but it means nothing if you can't be as tough as you act." Temptasia stated indifferently.

Literature gritted her teeth and flickered her eyes to Science, who managed to get near to the Delinquous.

"Pretty Cure, Covalent Bond!" Science cried out, only to receive another failed attack. This time, neon green ooze seeped out from her palms.

"Not again." Science griped as she looked down at her hands. She tried again.

"Pretty Cure, Covalent Bond!" Nothing.

"Pretty Cure, Covalent Bond!" Still, nothing.

"Why won't my stupid attack work?" She asked herself impatiently, unaware of the fact that she had Vice and Temptasia's attention.

"What's this? The green Pretty Cure's powers aren't working?" Temptasia snickered.

"Science, what's going on?" Literature called out.

"I don't know!" Science cried as she balled her fists, trying to focus so she could successfully purify the Delinquous.

"Just concentrate, try to remember and apply to the logistics of your powers." Literature suggested.

 _"I can't!"_

A bright green light flashed out from Science and nearly blinded everyone in the vicinity.

Once the light diminished, Yugure was standing in the place of Cure Science, everyone just as confused as she was.

"What just-?" Yugure asked before her transformation pen fell into her hands as it fell from above. It was now grey, and rusted, the gems around it all fogged as well as the large gem on top of the pen.

"What does this mean?" Yugure asked in a very desolate voice as she held the pen in her hand.

"Plan B, now!" Temptasia barked to Vice.

Vice enmeshed Arithmetic and History in a pair of very dark blue, almost black, bubbles and looked to Temptasia as he inched closer to Literature.

"She's no use to us." Temptasia smirked with a shake of her head.

Vice didn't even look to Temptasia for approval to capture Yugure, because he knew what she would say.

Both Literature and Yugure ran at a break-neck pace to the bubbles, trying to break Arithmetic and History free.

"Would you look at that? We've got the threatening half of the Pretty Cure today." Temptasia remarked.

"No!" Literature screamed as she banged against the bubble holding Arithmetic.

They all disappear instantaneously, Temptasia, Vice, the Delinquous, Arithmetic and History, they were all gone.

Literature stared off into the distance at a loss of words, feeling absolutely useless. She looked down at her Pretty Cure dress and then looked at Yugure, who looked just as dejected as her.

"Yugure-"

"-I'm sorry I let this happen." Yugure interrupted, her voice cracking.

"No, it's not your fault, neither of us is at fault here." Literature assured her.

"But, Cure Literature, I can't be a Pretty Cure anymore." Yugure confided as she showed her the once-green Fountain pen of Knowledge.

Literature opened her mouth, not to say something, but rather in astonishment. Before she could say anything, Yugure ran off, out of the gym. Literature wanted to run after her, but decided she probably needed some alone time as much as she did.

Renge went home and went up to her room, running to her bed and shoving her head into her pillow. Renny and Topher sat at her computer desk, curious as to why she was acting like this.

"Today has been awful." Renge declared after a few minutes, with tears streaming down her cheeks and onto her pillow.

Before the two of them could ask her what happened, Renge explained herself.

"Kanari and Chiyo got captured. And Yugure's not a Pretty Cure anymore." Renge explained shaking her head in frustration.

"How'd they get captured?!" Renny questioned.

"Did Yugure quit?!" Topher asked incredulously.

"Temptasia showed up today with this guy named Vice. He captured them and took them somewhere and Yugure didn't quit. Her powers weren't working and all of a sudden, she unwillingly untransformed." Renge sighed.

 _"This really is my fault."_ Renge thought to herself as she wrapped her arms and legs around the pillow.

"We need to rescue them." Renny declared.

"I know." Renge responded," But we need a plan. And I don't stand a chance by myself."

Renge then turned her attention to Topher," Go to Yugure's place. Try and convince her she's still a Pretty Cure. And do your best to comfort her, she's probably feeling horrible right now."

"Ok." Topher simply responded before he flew out the window.

"Hopefully he can convince her..." Renge said as she looked out to window once Topher was out of earshot," And then, we'll do everything in power to get Kanari and Chiyo back."


	19. Reach out to the stars!

Yugure sat under her covers, deciding that she wasn't going to go to school tomorrow. Today had been one of the worst days she had ever had. Her heart had never felt so heavy, and just think about this afternoon made tears form in her eyes. What an awful experience, not to mention, her own friends were kidnapped because of her incompetence. She slumped her shoulders and wrapped her arms around a rather puffy pillow on her bed, burrowing her face into it. Despite what Renge had told her, she knew she was the reason of her own, well former, teammates capture. Just thinking about what could've been happening to them at this very moment was sending endless shivers down her spine. They had to be rescued, Yugure was well aware of that, but just as the thought crossed her mind, she was reminded of the condition of her Fountain pen of Knowledge. She looked over to her side table where it laid lifelessly. No longer green, no longer sparkling or bursting with power. It wouldn't even click down. The dismal sight left her feeling just as sad as before upon laying eyes on the pen.

Yugure picked up the pen. Normally, it was smooth and pretty much looked like every other pen, but as of now, her pen felt more reminiscent of something made from stone. It was still so cold in her hands, as if it wasn't capable of warming up. She dropped it onto her bed and stared at it, wondering if it could ever be brought back to life.

"Yugure?" A voice called from outside her window. She shot her head up and looked out from her window, which was was conveniently beside her bed.

"Who's ther-?" Yugure stopped in mid-sentence as her eyes fell to Topher," Oh, hey. You can come in."

And so, Topher flew into her bedroom and he sat at the foot of her bed.

"So, how was the volleyball tournament?" Topher asked casually.

Yugure eyed him curiously. She really wasn't expecting him to ask her that, but hey, she wasn't complaining.

"It was good. After the whole Temptation scene, everyone came back. We knew we couldn't hold the tournament any other day with only two days left until the break, so we acted like it didn't happen." Yugure explained nonchalantly.

"So, how did your team do?" Topher questioned, curiosity rising up within him.

"We placed second." Yugure sighed. For Seinori, it was quite the achievement to place in second as they hadn't been able to attain such a ranking for years, placing fourth last year. But, the team, at least the third-years of the team, really wanted to end their volleyball career at Seinori with something really ground-breaking. But, then again, whose to say second place wasn't ground-breaking? Who was to know if they'd ever place second ever again?

Topher enjoyed seeing Yugure like this, smiling and talking about her day with ease. He knew now really wasn't the time to ask her about things that were so trivial in comparison to their crisis right now, but it felt more natural to try and ease into the subject. Maybe this way, it would be easier for Yugure to think more clearly after pushing the matter at hand away for at least a few minutes.

"But, I know why you're here..." Yugure declared solemnly, the smile from her face fading quickly," You want my pen so you can find a replacement for me."

"What? No! Yugure...we don't want to replace you." Topher claimed defensively, eyes wide in shock that she would even think such a thing.

"But I can't do anything." Yugure declared," Need I remind you?"

She held out her pen to Topher and he carefully examined it. It was quite a painful sight to see one of the Fountain pens of Knowledge in such a state. What was even more painful to look at was the dejected, near listless look in Yugure's eyes.

"Has this ever happened to a Pretty Cure before?" Yugure asked him softly, still holding out the pen while rotating between her fingers.

Topher took a few moments to give her a response," I don't think so."

Yugure sighed, putting the pen back onto the side table, with Topher quickly pointing out," But that doesn't mean you can't be a Pretty Cure again!"

"Face it." Yugure said coldly as she looked him dead in the eye," I have no control over my own powers and because of that, I let Kanari and Chiyo get captured."

"Renge plans on rescuing them tomorrow morning." Topher declared," But she can't do it alone."

"Is she going to skip school?" Yugure asked innocently with an undertone of disbelief.

"She's going really early in the morning. But she said that either way, she didn't care if she missed school. Kanari and Chiyo are much more important." Topher relayed.

"Well, I'm sorry. But, as much as I want to help, I can't. Like I said, I couldn't hone my powers. She could just find somebody else." Yugure declared with a shrug as she got off her bed to get something from her desk across the room.

"Who else could she find?" Topher asked her.

"Tsubaki." Yugure suggested neutrally, her expression bitter.

"Why do think Tsubaki should replace you?" Topher questioned, beginning to grow annoyed with Yugure.

"Because, she's much better at Chemistry than I am. She's cut out for that field of Science, I'm not." Yugure proclaimed as she returned to the bed to sit on it, with a book in a hand. It was a large hard cover that appear to be a children's book.

"So, with that being said, is there a Science you think you're good at?" Topher interrogated, only to be shushed by Yugure seconds after. Yugure pointed to the covering of the book, motioning Topher to take a look at it.

"The girl who lived with stars." Topher read aloud quietly.

Yugure smiled a small smile and opened the book, allowing Topher to read the book aloud.

On the first page, the was a little girl with shoulder length violet hair who was up in space, sitting on a star. She looked calm and peaceful and the picture brought ease to Topher.

He read aloud," There once was a girl who lived amongst the stars. Her eyes were very blue and her hair was quite dark."

Yugure turned the page and Topher looked at the picture of the next page. The girl was now looking down at Earth with a smile on her face, but her smile wasn't that of an innocent one. It was more smug if anything.

"Up in space she decided to reside, her dreams too big for the standardized mind." Topher read," This girl in the pictures, she looks a lot like you."

"That's because she _is_ me."

"Come again?"

Yugure chuckled," Someone wrote this book and got a friend to publish it. It's a one of a kind and I love it very much."

Topher nodded and Yugure cleared her throat, causing Topher to look at her in question.

"If you haven't noticed..." Yugure began," I have a very star-themed bedroom."

Very star-themed was an understatement. From the ceiling hung glow in the dark planets with stars and on her bed laid an indigo comforter covered with stars. On her bed there was also a few star shaped pillows and she even had a poster of the solar system hung beside her bedroom closet. But Topher had a feeling that there was many more stars in this room that remained unseen. The only thing that seemed a bit out of place in this room was Yugure's pet gecko, Xander, crawling in it's cage.

"I love astronomy deeply. But...no matter what, mom wants me to go into biochemistry, just like her." Yugure explained," At first, I was ok with it. I mean, it's a Science as well right? And, if I loved astronomy, then who knows how I would feel about biochemistry? But, last year when we got I took Chemistry I only got a seventy in the course. At first, I thought it wasn't a big deal since some other kids got even lower marks than me and the teacher wasn't all that good at teaching the material. But this year, even with a different teacher, things have slowly been getting worse, getting stressful. Could you believe it took me a year to realize that I hated Chemistry?"

Yugure laughed bitterly and put the book to the side, bracing up against the window.

"So, what made you realize your love for Astronomy?" Topher asked abruptly.

The violet-haired girl sighed, her eyes downcast as she tried to decide where to start the story from.

"I think this all may have started some time when I was younger..." Yugure declared, grabbing a little doll with light blue hair wearing a dress covered with stars.

Unfortunately, Yugure couldn't remember exactly how her story began, but that didn't stop memories from flooding in like a tidal wave.

Yugure was six years old and spent her days in her bedroom with her babysitter downstairs, either watching tv or making lunch. The weekends used to bring such boredom to Yugure as she always found herself being confined in her bedroom while her parents were away at work. Two of days to do whatever she wanted and she had to spend them locked away in her house like some sort of prisoner. She had so much energy that her babysitter often wrote her off as a handful. Her parents were however, understanding of Yugure's need to do things but they told her that the next weekend would surely be more pleasant than the one that had past. And she believed them every single time, but every weekend turned out to be as dull as the last one.

Until, someone started showing up at her front door at nine in the morning every single Saturday.

The doorbell would ring at precisely eight fifty-nine, with a second until the clock struck nine. By then, Yugure's mother left in the house, her father gone to work and she herself leaving just as the doorbell would ring.

And every morning when that doorbell would ring, Shiho would answer the door, finding a young boy with hair as dark as a raven and bright blue eyes standing in her doorway.

"Good morning Ms. Hoshina! Nice weather we're having today right?" The boy asked her, a gigantic grin plastered onto his face.

"Minato Hoshizawa. To what do I owe this visit?" Shiho asked wryly as she knelt down to the boy.

"Nothing but to see your daughter. Tell her I'm here and that's she needs to get out of bed!" Minato requested.

"Will do." Shiho replied as she walked over to the staircase that lead to the upper level of the house," Yugure, Minato's here!"

Yugure was in the bathroom, brushing her teeth as quickly as possible. Any faster and she may have knocked out that loose tooth that she wiggling around for the last four days. While it would've been nice to knock it out now, she decided upon trying to achieve the task later so she wouldn't start bleeding all over her new mint pleated skirt.

"Good morning~!" Yugure clamored as she ran down the stairs, tripping and falling flat on her face as she did so.

"Are you ok Yugure?" Shiho asked with concern.

"Yep. Just lost a tooth though." Yugure said sheepishly as she held out the tooth.

"Cool." Minato said as he inspected the tooth in her hand.

Shiho took the tooth from Yugure," I'll go get you some salt water."

Yugure wobbled up to her feet, with a little help from Minato. She dusted off her skirt and looked up to her nervously.

"That was really lame wasn't it?" Yugure asked him sheepishly.

"No way, you knocked that tooth out and showed it who's boss! I thought it was awesome!" Minato exclaimed making Yugure giggle.

After Yugure got cleaned up, her mother went to work and her babysitter came in. Her babysitter was an elderly woman in her fifties and while she seemed to be strict, Minato seemed to consider herself as a bit of a pushover.

"Ms Harumura! I'm taking Yugure to my house today to play some video games, if you allow me to of course." Minato declared in a near imperative voice.

"Alright Minato. Please bring her back by five for dinner alright?" Ms Harumura requested.

"Will do!" Minato affirmed as he saluted her.

Minato then took her out and led her to his house. Yugure followed behind, looking at him in admiration as he walked gallantly.

 _"This is Minato Hoshizawa. He's one of my best friends in the entire world! He lives in the neighborhood and he's a year older than me. He's also always looking out for me too. Minato's dad works with my parents and that's why my mom trusts him as much as she does."_

As they continued to walk, Yugure found the two of them walking past Minato's house.

"Um, Minato? Your house is over there." Yugure reminded him as she grabbed a hold of his arm and pointed towards the house.

Minato stopped walking as Yugure pulled on his arm. He laughed a little bit then looked down to Yugure saying,

"We're going to the park today."

"What? The park? Where all the other kids hang out?" Yugure probed as she felt her face turn red. Her parents may have like Minato but that didn't mean they had to like the rest of the kids in the neighborhood. Her parents disapproved of them greatly and while they seemed like a nice bunch, the thought of disobeying her parents made her feelings of curiosity get canceled out by fear.

"I know your mom and dad don't those other kids. But they're really cool and I think you'll like them a lot." Minato reasoned with a earnest smile.

"But what if-?"

"Is there anyone else here to tell you otherwise?"

Yugure looked around for somebody within the vicinity and proved that it was just the two of them. Yugure shook her head and so, Minato led her to the park. Even though they proved that there was no one else around to tell Yugure that she couldn't go play with the other kids, she still felt worried about going anyways. Her parents made sure she never hung around them for a reason. What if they were right about the kids being a bad group? But, Minato trusted them and he never steered her wrong. Then again, there was a first for everything.

When the two of them reached the park, they were met by a group of kids, all appearing to be around her and Minato's age. They all seemed nice for the most part, but Yugure kept her guard up.

"Hey, princess is here today!" One girl cried. She had shoulder-length dirty blond hair that covered her eyes and wore a red t-shirt decorated with flowers and jean shorts.

"Princess?" Yugure repeated as she double-blinked, standing behind Minato.

"They usually call you that because you're always dressed in girly clothes and skirts." Minato explained.

"What's she doing here?" One boy, who seemed to be Minato's age, questioned.

" _She_ has a name. Everyone, this is Yugure." Minato introduced as he took a step to the side to let everyone get a look at her, as if unveiling a new invention.

"Yugure, this is Sayo, Daichi, Kengo, Hiro, Yomi and Kiriko." Minato introduced.

Everyone appeared to be quite nice, but Yugure could only manage to hold eye contact with them for so long. She had been told over and over that it was rude to not look at people when they were talking to you, but it was just so overwhelming for her to maintain. She had been trying to practice at it for the last few weeks, but she only managed to last for about a few seconds without turning her gaze to something else.

"Nice to meet you Yugure." Daichi, the boy who asked what she was doing here a few moments before, said to her in a tone she found somewhat unfriendly. He held his hand out to her.

"You too." She said quietly as she awkwardly looked down at her shoes.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." Daichi demanded, causing Yugure to flinch upon hearing those words.

Yugure did as told and looked directly at Daichi. Yugure was astonished with what she saw.

"You have very, very dark eyes. They're really pretty, I feel I could get lost in them." Yugure exhaled.

The rest of the kids broke into a fit of laughter, as did Daichi while patting her on the back saying," You're alright, kid."

Yugure looked around awkwardly and decided to laugh with them suddenly feeling this unexpected sense of belonging as she did so.

The day was spent hanging out at the park, playing hide and go seek, freeze tag and a bunch of other games. By four o'clock, all of the other kids needed to go home and so, Minato took Yugure to his place.

Minato's house seemed nice and his room was very interesting to Yugure, despite it being a little messy. He had many posters of tv show characters hung up on his walls along with a very small desk and a box for all of his action figures. The walls of his bedroom were painted a shade of blue that Yugure found calming and the walls matched the colour of his bed sheets. But, what Yugure thought to be the best part of Minato's room was what appeared to be a miniature telescope in the corner of his room.

"Too bad it isn't night time yet.." Yugure remarked, sitting on Minato's bed as she stared at the telescope while Minato was putting some of his action figures back into his box.

"Huh? Why not?" Minato questioned, turning to face Yugure for only a second.

"Because then we could use this." Yugure answered, pointing to the telescope.

Minato stood up immediately and grinned saying," It doesn't have to be night time for us to use it!"

Yugure looked at him curiously as he brought the telescope up to his window. He adjusted while looking into it and motioned Yugure over.

"I can look through that guy's window, see?" Minato stated as he let Yugure look through the telescope.

Yugure saw a man watching tv in his living room in a house across the street through the telescope.

"We can also look at this!" Minato claimed as he positioned the telescope to focus on something else.

Yugure looked into the microscope, seeing the headlines of a newspaper in the hands of some woman sitting on a bench across the street.

"We can even see-!"

"I don't wanna look at all those things!" Yugure exasperated with a forced chuckle.

"Then, what would you like to look at?" Minato inquired curiously, darting his eyes from the telescope to her.

"Um..." Yugure began hesitantly, her eyes downcast," I...I want to look at the stars!"

Minato looked down for a moment and looked up to Yugure, smiling brightly," I was hoping you'd say that."

Minato loved stars as much as Yugure did and he was the one to help Yugure discover how passionate she was about astronomy. So, every Friday night, around seven o'clock, Yugure went to Minato's house, with permission from her parents of course, to go look at the stars with him. Every time she went, she always found herself brimming up with joy and wonder as she looked at the night sky filled with stars through Minato's telescope. Looking through Minato's telescope on Friday nights lasted for about three or four years. Those Friday nights, just to themselves where it was just the two of them and the one thing they shared a burning passion for; the stars.

Some nights were unfortunately only illuminated with the moon and one or two stars, but other nights, the only sky was alight with countless stars around. Of course, these nights may have only occurred only five or six times during those years and while Yugure couldn't remember the exact date of when these nights were, she could never forget that look of sheer amazement and the twinkle in Minato's eyes when he saw all those stars.

Every time Yugure thought back to those years, she wondered wistfully how those days slipped by so quickly. Those easy-going, carefree days where she couldn't wait for the end of the week to go to Minato's house and watch the stars with him. Why couldn't those days last?

Despite their star-gazing nights became less and less frequent, Yugure and Minato had stayed as close as ever. Sometimes, when Yugure's parents were out on some business trip, or simply at a coworker's place for dinner, Minato would drop by and visit her by entering through her window.

"Nice of you to drop in." Yugure greeted, her cheeks tinting red as she watched Minato sit on the ledge of her window.

Minato smirked and walked over to her," So you said needed help with your Science homework?"

During the next hour, Minato took his time with helping her, making sure that she understood the material. While it took a little longer than the both of them thought, Yugure did manage to understand the most of her notes now. She hated admitting this, but studying her notes wasn't this easy with her mom and dad. But somehow, Minato just had a way with words that made things more clear to Yugure. She couldn't understand how, but, it really didn't matter to her.

As he sat beside her on one of the folding chairs Yugure kept in her closet, she noticed his face fall for a second.

"Is there something wrong?" Yugure asked out of concern as she put her pencil down.

"I'm easy to read aren't I?" Minato sighed as he scratched the back of his head.

Yugure nodded a single nod and laughed sheepishly. All of a sudden, Minato appeared less brash, taking his gaze away from her and blushing a little. He seemed really timid now, his sparkling blue eyes downcast.

"What is it?" Yugure asked cautiously, feeling her heart begin to race as she looked at Minato in such a rare state.

"It's Fumiko." Minato confessed, with a large sigh. Yugure felt her heart sink in her chest as she her that name that she disliked hearing. Fumiko, Minato's girlfriend. The girl who moved in a few months who went to the same high-school as Minato. The girl with pretty cherry pink hair, gentle grey eyes, and Minato's heart. The elegant girl who seemed to be wise beyond years and much better than Yugure in everything, yet the kindest girl in the neighborhood. Yugure hated that she couldn't bring herself to dislike her, not even a little bit.

"What's wrong? Did you guys have a fight?" Yugure asked, feeling a little guilty for sounding so eager when she asked that last question.

"No, it's just...I feel like she's avoiding me." Minato declared hesitantly," She says she's been really busy these last few weeks but, I don't know, I feel like there is something more to it, like she's hiding something from me.

"It's sounds like a common case of miscommunication." Yugure diagnosed," What I think you should do is try and talk to her, so you guys don't have to have any secrets between the two of you. Well, any that may harm the relationship. If she sees you being sincere and really concerned about her, she'll be really thankful that she has someone like you to be hers."

"You always know what to do whenever I need help, why is that?" Minato asked her curiously with a half-smile on his face.

Yugure shrugged and Minato simply laughed at her.

"You're starting high-school pretty soon. Are you nervous?" Minato asked her.

"No. There's no need to..." Yugure declared neutrally as she continued to do her homework.

"Wow, I've never seen someone so calm about their first day of high school." Minato remarked," But I bet you're just faking!"

Yugure pressed her fist under cheek as Minato laughed. She sighed a little upon remembering that Minato wasn't going to go to Seinori with her. He went to Ichijou, a school within the district but more elite. It wasn't like elementary school anymore, or middle school. But, at least they still lived close to each other.

Those years slipped through her fingers, it was hard for her to believe that conversation was four years ago, but she remembered it as if it was yesterday. All those years, as time went by, Minato began to feel less like a friend and more like a brother. She wasn't sure how she felt about that as Minato thought of her like a little sister, but that also meant he likely saw her as nothing more than that.

But, she was forever grateful that she had Minato in her life. Had it not been for him, she would've never made friends with those kids in the park and discover just how passionate she was about astronomy. She would've never realized just how wonderful it was to simply look up at the sky on a starry night. She would've never even thought to disregard her parent's over-protective rules if she never met him.

Years later, just a few months ago, Minato graduated and by the end of August, he was ready to leave this town for some place far, far away from here. His plans were to leave for a city called Yozora, where the town was full of people who were passionate about astronomy and the stars just like him and Yugure. Many of the universities there were known for their field of astrophysics and astronomy, and just hearing about it from Minato made Yugure feel overwhelmed with excitement.

Yugure remembered the day he left very clearly, and she hated that she was able to remember the day as if it was yesterday. Minato stood at the airport, dressed in a rather mature fashion, looking a little more sophisticated than usual. Even though the longest she went without seeing him lately was four days, he looked older. In all honestly, Yugure didn't like it one bit. Not because he looked bad, but, that just reminded her how very long ago those days of them as kids were. He wasn't teasing like he usually did when he saw her or anything of the sort. He was too busy bidding farewell to all of his family members who came today and some of his own friends, Fumiko being amongst his group of friends.

"I can't believe it. Minato's all grown up." Minato's step-mom, Yuriko, remarked as she hugged him tightly.

Yugure watched Minato proceed to say goodbye to all his friends and family, patiently waiting her turn. When he reached Fumiko, he kissed her goodbye and Yugure couldn't keep herself from turning away to keep herself from watching, which only made her heart break upon the sight. Minato was a few inches taller than Fumiko and Fumiko was the same height as Yugure. She watched closely, maybe too closely, noticing the smile on Fumiko's lips during the kiss.

"Goodbye for now, Yugure." Minato said as he hugged her. Yugure felt tears rolling down her cheeks as she hugged him goodbye. Never had she cried for anyone when seeing them off up until now.

"I have something for you by the way." Minato stated as he took something out from his bag. In his hands was a present for her. Minato handed Yugure the present, wrapped in blue and silver gift wrapping and cautiously, Yugure took it.

He motioned her to open the present and so she did, finding a book inside of it.

"The girl who lived with stars?" Yugure read out as she looked at the cover of the book.

"It's a special book. Read it when get home." Minato requested as he looked down to Yugure," I'll see you soon."

Yugure stared down at the book, wiping the tears away from her eyes with her free hand. She watched Minato leave and waved goodbye as she watched him leave to go through security check.

That night, Yugure read the book, taking no time at all to realize it was about her. She didn't want to finish it, but, not doing so would've been rude so, she ended up completing it in ten minutes.

There was a little note at the back of the book and now, present day Yugure was reading it with Topher.

"I really hope you enjoyed reading this because I kinda put a lot work into it. Fumiko's parents working at a publishing company so they were able to make it look all official and stuff. They really liked it and asked me if I wanted more copies of it printed for sale. I told them no because I wanted this to between just us and whoever you choose to share this tale with. I'm sorry you chose not to come along, but I respect your choice. However, I hope I get to see at Yozora University in a year from now. Until then, I'll see you around Princess." Topher read aloud.

"You really cared about Minato didn't you?" Topher asked cautiously.

"More than anything in the world." Yugure replied absently as she ran her hands against the book," Do you have someone like that?"

"Uh, what? Um...yeah, sorta..." Topher answered, adverting his gaze from her.

"A fellow bird?" Yugure questioned softly.

"Something like that..." Topher responded uneasily.  
As Yugure took a deep breath while sinking down against the wall next to her bed, Topher couldn't help but reread one part aloud.

"I'm sorry you chose not to come along...what's that all about?" Topher asked as he looked over to Yugure.

Yugure sighed again and that sighed turned into a laugh," Not many people know this but...alright, it's just between me and Minato. Anyways, Minato offered to let me come with him to Yozora."

"For like a week?" Topher inquired, sounding a little puzzled while he squinted towards her.

"Like, a lot longer than a week." Yugure replied as she looked away from Topher," There were a bunch of high schools there and so he thought, maybe I could live with him."

"Isn't that a little dangerous, even if he was your friend?" Topher interrogated.

"It could never be dangerous as long as he loved Fumiko." Yugure said, trying her hardest to not sound bitter," He even told my parents about it, and they agreed somehow. I guess it's because they trust him. For that entire month, I was so unsure of what to do. I really wanted to go, so desperately to explore a city that loved the stars as much as me and Minato did. I wanted to live that life where I could just live without worrying about burdening my parents with my homework problems and just look up to the sky and view a thousand stars. I wanted to know what it was like to live in a city devoted to astronomy, I wanted to be a part of that city so badly. But I didn't go with him because I wanted to try and give Chemistry one more shot, for my parents' sake. If I just gave up on becoming a biochemist like my mom, it surely would've crushed her. But, sometimes, I think it may've not been worth it to stay, since I'll probably do more than crush my parents once they see my grade for Chemistry..."

Yugure took another deep breath and spoke again," For the last few months, I've been living with regrets. Regret for not going to Yozora with Minato when I could. Regret for letting myself try to please my parents when I knew I wasn't capable to do such a thing. And now, I regret becoming Cure Science because I put my precious friends in danger. And, now, Renge has to cheat death all on her own to save Kanari and Chiyo and...I can't do anything about it."

"That's not true!" Topher claimed," You can-!"

"Topher, there's nothing I can do!" Yugure cried in frustration as she waved the pen in Topher's face.

"Will you forget the pen for one second?!" Topher shouted, startling Yugure. She was about to clasp her hands over her ears, but decided against it.

"You said this was your fault right? So then own up to your mistakes and save Kanari and Chiyo. You don't know what could happen if you don't try!" Topher lamented.

Yugure narrowed her eyes at Topher, she hated how he was right, how he informed her once more that sitting here doing nothing wasn't going to save her fellow teammates. She then took her phone from her night stand and began to text somebody.

"What are you doing?" Topher questioned nervously.

"Planning a spot to meet Renge at for tomorrow morning." Yugure answered in a robotic voice as she continued to type her text, making Topher smile greatly.

"Hey Renge! You got a text from Yugure!" Renny cheered as Renge practiced her kicks in her bedroom. She was dressed in a loose-fitting, red crop-top and capri length yoga pants.

"What does it say?" Renge asked as she sent a high kick up to the air.

"She's coming tomorrow morning!" Renny clamored jubilantly.

Renge preformed another high kick," That's great to hear."

Renge took a break from her practice for tomorrow and took a generous sip from her vitamin water bottle.

"But, will she be able to transform again?" Renge asked warily as she closed the water bottle while looking at Renny.

"Only time will tell..." Renny responded as he looked down anxiously," But, you really should go to bed. It's almost eleven-thirty."

"Same goes for you." Renge said as she took her night clothes to the bathroom to take a shower," I'm turning off the lights ok?"

"Ok, good night." Renny called out," And good luck tomorrow."

"Thanks." Renge replied," I'll need it."

That night, both Renge and Yugure experienced some difficultly in sleeping, with the two of them feeling so anxious for tomorrow as they tossed and turned in their beds. After an hour of trying to sleep, Renge decided to pull out a book to relax herself and in fifteen minutes or so, she drifted off to sleep. Yugure resolved her insomnia by counting sheep.

That morning, Renge awoke in an instant, feeling unusually alert. And, for once, she didn't lay in her bed for a minute or two the minute she awoke. She jumped out and put on an outfit she had lain out on her computer chair last night; a red sleeveless turtle neck top and a pair of grey skinny jeans with gold studs around the pockets. She ran out of the house after eating breakfast in the span of half a minute as she tried simultaneously combing her hair, brushing her teeth two minutes later. She put on a fleecy maroon sweater and puffed vest over it and tied her shoes as she left her house with Renny following behind her, only to get stuffed into her bag.

Renge took the bus to get to the spot that she and Yugure were going to meet at and as she got onto the bus, she felt incredibly anxious thinking about how this could all go down. The bus ride was only five minutes long and once Renge got off the bus, she walked over to an overpass bridge with a near frozen river under it. Renge exhaled a deep breath, under the bridge near the edge of the river was where she and Yugure were going to meet up. This was one of the most quiet places Renge could think of in town, so she decided it'd be the best place for her and Yugure to meet up at and try to summon Vice.

There was a steep little hill beside the bridge that lead to the edge of the river so Renge walked down it. She looked around, making sure nobody was in sight. After affirming that there was no one around, Renge took out her transformation pen.

"Pretty Cure, study session!"

The red lights smothered her fiercely, and in the place of Renge stood Cure Literature. Literature looked up to the sky, noticing that dawn was coving over the city as the sky was becoming a bright blue. Now all that was left was Yugure to come.

"It seems you're wanted..." Temptasia remarked as she looked at Cure Literature standing under the bridge from the glass ball in the room. Vice stood beside her, looking intently.

"Do you think you bring me back another Pretty Cure?" She asked him gently as she looked up towards him. Vice did as told and left the room instantaneously.

Just then, Vice appeared before Literature, who wasn't expecting him to come so soon. Literature gingerly took a few steps back.

"Don't like to keep people waiting huh?" Literature questioned as she bit her lip.

Vice then darted up to her and formed two spheres of dark indigo and electric blue energy with his hands. Literature jumped backwards and barely dodged those attacks from Vice, skidding onto the thin ice as she did so. But, the spheres didn't disappear. Instead he aimed the at her when he was close enough and so Literature delivered a high kick to his chin, sending him up high with those spheres barely missing her. Vice landed on his feet at the hill beside the river and glared towards Literature. Literature looked at him nervously and tried to devise a plan within the few moments that she had while Yugure was going to arrive soon.

Yugure ran to the bus stop, hoping that she was going to make it in time help Renge rescue the girls. Topher remained hidden in her bag and she looked down as she thought about how Kanari and Chiyo may've been doing.

 _"Like Topher said, I have to try."_ Yugure reminded herself in her head before noticing the bus coming to her stop.

Literature barely dodged another of Vice's attacks as she ducked and found herself inches away from Vice. She tried throwing a kick into Vice's stomach but instead her leg was caught by Vice and she was thrown to the edge of the river.

Literature heard this strange crackling sound and realized that it was the ice underneath her and immediately jumped up, watching the ice that was under her break apart.

"Pretty Cure, Assassinating Diamante!" Literature yelled in mid-air as she positioned her hands towards Vice. The attack went behind him and Vice watched it curiously before being thrown to his feet as Literature slid across the ice and pulled him down.

Literature kept sliding until she reached the edge of the river. She smirked, being please with her successful attack but as she got up and looked to the direction where she left Vice, he was nowhere to be found. Literature's pupils shrunk in fear, frozen in spot as she looked at the cracking ice where Vice was moments ago.

Vice then reappeared and sent one of those spheres of energy into Literature's midsection from the side. But, instead of being indigo and electric blue, it was simply cobalt. Literature collided with one of the supports for the bridge, feeling immeasurable pain as she slunk down to her feet. She saw Vice darting up towards her, with another pair energy spheres in his hands and instinctively, Literature crossed her arms in front of her face.

Somehow, her crossing her arms resulted in a small, pale red 'X' appearing before her and pushed Vice away. She arose to her feet and the 'X' disappeared. Vice was no longer getting pushed away, and now, Literature had to fight back again. The two sparred for quite awhile, both of them tiring out quickly, but refusing to show any signs of it. But just then, Literature threw one punch but missed, resulting in Vice grabbing her hand and twisting it around her back. He then put his free hand around her neck and held her still.

"Let go of me!" Literature snapped as she tried breaking free from Vice's grip. He then narrowed his eyes at her and summoned a multitude of dark rings encircling from head to toe. She gritted her teeth, feeling both drained of her energy and the rings circled around her and pain she never felt in her entire life. She screamed as felt her body soon go numb after feeling as if she had been attacked over a thousand times in the course of a minute. It was like the rings were doing all the work for Vice.

"Literature!" Yugure cried as she arrived at the overpass, standing only a few meters away from Cure Literature and Vice.

"Yugure..." Literature gasped out, still within the rings. The rings disappeared shortly and Vice took a jab to Literature's stomach, knocking her out cold and throwing her over his shoulder.

It looked like he was about to leave, but then Yugure shouted at the top of her lungs," Wait!"

Vice paid her no heed and Yugure stood there, just watching helplessly as Vice left. Once Vice disappeared, Topher came out from her bag and Renny came over to the two of them.

"I did it again... I let yet another friend get captured, how could I let such a thing happen? They don't deserve this, I'm the one who should be getting captured, not them." Yugure stated as she held Topher close to her chest, feeling a wave of distress come over her.

Topher then begged of her," Yugure, don't give u-"

"-I need to save them!" Yugure declared in determination, surprising both Renny and Topher.

She then look down to the two of them, seeming a little confused with their expressions," What? It's like you said, I've own up to my mistakes. I need to at least try before I admit defeat. But it's like I plan on doing that any time soon."

"But your pen-!" Renny blurted out before Topher clamped his mouth shut with his wing.

"I know. As of right now, I can't transform into Cure Science because of my inability to stabilize my powers. But, right now, the fear of my friends getting hurt is greater than my fear of being unable to transform ever again! So, I need to try something, anything! Something that'll lead me to them!"

Yugure then took her pen, still as lifeless as before, out from her bag. She looked at it directly with a pleading look in her eye.

"Please, I know I'm not very good at controlling my powers as a Pretty Cure. But please, don't let my friends pay the price for my incompetence!" Yugure begged the pen. Suddenly, the pen began to glow very, very faint shade of green from the large jewel at the top of the pen. She darted her eyes to Renny and Topher, who were looking at the pen as intently as she was. She held it close to her and motioned both of the birds to perch themselves on her shoulders as she shut her eyes.

Vice carried Literature, who was now half-conscious, into a cave-like hideout. In this hideout, History and Arithmetic were confined in separate,apparently indestructible pods. History slammed her fists against the green glassy surface relentlessly, while feeling herself tire out slowly while Arithmetic just sat there lost in thought. Rishi was sitting in a corner of the hideout cross-legged and appeared to be keeping watch on the girls.

"You better let of out here right this instant!" History snapped as she watched Vice enter the hideout before noticing Literature slung over his shoulder," Literature!"

Vice knew better than to listen to History, as he already fooled her once a couple of hours ago, when she asked for a glass of water. He gave it to her and she threw it in his face, trying to flee as quickly as she possibly could, but with no avail with Vice being to quick to catch on.

Arithmetic didn't even take notice of Literature and Vice, as she looked up into the corner of the ceiling's hideout.

"This probably isn't even Temptation's actual hideout; just a disposable one most likely..." She muttered to herself.

"Hey Vice, just what took you so long?" Rishi asked in lax yet inquisitive voice as he disappeared and reappeared at either sides of Vice in various ways, from glitching out to melting away in a matter of seconds to crumbling away while asking the question.

Vice, unimpressed with his antics, pulled Rishi's ear and forced him to stop.

"Relax," Rishi said with a groan as he rubbed his ear after Vice let go of it.

"Literature, wake up!" History demanded as she watched the Cure clad in red get tossed into one of the pods like her and Arithmetic. But their lead Cure only became fully conscious once she hit the floor of the pod. She snapped awake as soon as it happened and looked at Vice dead in the eyes.

"I won't you let you get away with this, not now, not in a million years!" Literature declared viciously, being face to face with him as he had yet to lock her into the pod," Capturing me and my friends, just so you can for the book and use it wrongfully! I won't let that happen."

"You just did." Rishi pointed out with a half-smirk on his face as Vice locked the pod.

Literature tried beating the pod open as History had been doing a few moments ago, with just as much avail as her fellow Cure.

Meanwhile, Yugure was standing just outside of the hideout, feeling unsure of just how she should enter the hideout.

"Should I just walk in? No, that's way too awkward. Maybe I should be all heroic and stuff. But what if I stutter or I'm too quiet? Funny, I've never had these thoughts when transformed." Yugure whispered to herself.

"It seems like we have a visitor outside..." Rishi stated with little interest as his eyes fell to the doorway of the hideout. Vice looked in the same direction as Rishi, waiting for someone to appear.

"Guess I'm going to have to just go in!" Yugure said to herself as she entered the hideout.

Yugure stood in the center of the hideout, her fellow Cures feeling fearful for her and Rishi, along with Vice just stared her down. She felt all that anxiety from before well up in her again, but she knew she couldn't let that get the best of her now.

She noticed the Delinquous from yesterday standing in the corner of the room, stagnant and darted her eyes back to Vice.

"I don't know what made you think it was ok to abduct my teammates, but either way, you're not to get away this! Not on my watch." Yugure declared.

"What good can she do? She lost her powers, remember?" Temptasia said as she appeared into the room.

Yugure bit her lip as she looked over to Temptasia and narrowed her eyes," I may not have my powers anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm no longer a Pretty Cure!"

Temptasia looked at her skeptically and scoffed while saying," How does that work my dear?"

"Because, Pretty Cure is more to me than being a magical girl who has to stress over her powers that she can't control! Pretty Cure is being strong and brave even when I'm scared and more importantly being Pretty Cure is being with these girls and fighting for the gift that is knowledge and learning! That's how I'm a Pretty Cure!"

"Vice?" Temptasia simply said and with that, he began to fight Yugure.

She kept up with him quite well for not being transformed, but everyone in the room could tell she was struggling a bit. Vice then swung at her and she dodged with a yelp, ducking down and finding herself cornered.

"Need I remind you?" Temptasia asked as Yugure fell to her feet from bumping into a wall," You don't have powers anymore. Therefore, no matter what you do, you can't be a Pretty Cure..."

Yugure looked up towards Vice, pupils shrunk in fear. But then, she looked down, with her bangs now covering her eyes that flickered to an aqua-blue and said,

"Actually, you're wrong. If anything, I've never felt more like a Pretty Cure up until now!" Yugure declared as she raised her voice.

"But you're weak! Powerless! You're not able to save yourself, let alone save your friends!"

"Maybe I look weak and powerless to you, but, up until now, I had been questioning myself, wondering if I was deserving of the title Cure Science when I struggled with controlling my powers. But, I don't need powers that I can't control or stabilize in order to save myself. I'm just going to have to accept the fact that I can't do Chemistry and become the person who I'd much rather be in order to save everyone!"

Just then, a flash of very bright violet lights flickered from Yugure and everyone shut their eyes, with Vice being blown to the other side of the hideout.

"What's happening?" Literature and Temptasia shouted in unison as they shielded their eyes.

"We don't know!" Renny shouted back.

Yugure was inside a lilac and violet void, seeming very, very confused as she floated around, surveying the area.

"What's going on?" Yugure asked in a puzzled tone as she spun around.

 _"Good job Yugure."_ A voice said to her, _" You've reawakened yourself."_

"I...what?" Yugure asked as she began to looking around for the owner of the voice relentlessly.

 _"You were courageous enough to not only stand up for your friends, but yourself too, therefore your efforts simply cannot go unrewarded."_

In her hands appeared her transformation pen, still grey but now, it was transforming right before her very eyes; changing from grey to lilac with the gems regaining their glow. Once the pen finished transforming, Yugure took a good look at it.

"Does this mean I can...?" Yugure trailed off, too amazed by her pen's transformation to finish her sentence.

 _"You know what to do."_ The voice said to her, making Yugure smile a gigantic smile.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" Yugure called out.

Stars were flying from everywhere and twinkling all around her. A group of stars shimmered around her center and bursted apart, leaving a dress of many shades of purple with long sleeves and and high-low skirt. Under her skirt was a pair a plum coloured shorts. She twirled around and on her feet appeared a pair of lavender shoes that resembled ballerina flats. And then, she ran her hands through her hair and it magically grew very long, to her thighs and became lilac. It was styled into two sets of twin tails that curled at the ends with buns in the shape of stars atop of them. She then snapped her fingers in front of her neck and deep purple choker with a necklace full of stars appeared.

Finally, she placed her hands over her chest and materialized a ribbon with a star in the center that was shimmering and lilac.

She then opened her eyes, revealing them to be each differently coloured, though it was hard to tell with one eye being aqua-green and the other other turquoise.

She struck a pose and introduced," The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!"

Science touched her face, and her eyes widened in shock," I...I'm a Pretty Cure again..."

Temptasia glared at Science and darted her eyes towards Vice," I'm sick of playing games Vice. You know what to do."

She prepared herself to leave but before she left, Rishi asked her," Where are you going?"

"I have other things to attend to." And with that, she left.

So Vice did as told and went charging towards the reborn Cure Science.

Science did a back flip and bumped into one of the pods, specifically the one holding Arithmetic. Vice shot one of those energy spheres directly at Cure Science and she barely dodged it.

"A little rusty?" Arithmetic asked Science from inside the pod before she jumped onto said pod.

As she jumped onto the pod, she noticed her foot touch something on it. She looked down and spotted a button that said 'Emergency release.' She stepped on the button curiously and the pod was opening, letting Arithmetic free.

"There are buttons on top of the pods!" Science informed Arithmetic while cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice," You save Literature, I'll get History!"

Arithmetic flashed her a thumbs-up and went towards Literature's pod. Vice chased after Arithmetic while Science went to free History. She jumped onto the exact spot where the emergency release button was and History's pod was opened in an instant.

"Thanks..." History said as Science helped her up, the former examining her teammate's new form.

Science winked at her and the two looked over to see how Arithmetic was doing. Arithmetic had yet to free Literature due to Vice chasing after her, shooting spheres of energy towards her.

"Pretty Cure, Celestial Starlight!" Science shouted out, sending a massive array of violet stars towards Vice. The attack was stronger than it looked, and Vice didn't have enough to dodge the attack and was ultimately met with the swarm of stars.

"Now!" Science instructed Arithmetic, who was one step ahead of her as she opened up Literature's pod.

"What will you do now?" Rishi asked Vice curiously, the former being uninterested in taking any part in this fight.

Vice did nothing but continue fighting. He noticed Arithmetic and History seemed to be marginally slower than there teammates as the two had been up all night, since falling asleep would cause them to de-transform.

The fight last for quite a long time though, longer than either side expected. With countless kicks and punches thrown towards each side, the girls were getting exhausted trying to keep up with Vice and Rishi was getting bored.

He then looked over to the stationary Delinquous at the corner of the room.

"Your creator's in need, do something." Rishi commanded the Delinquous flatly. The Delinquous then did as told and took up Vice's place without his consent and fought against the Pretty Cure. It proved itself to be much more stronger than Vice, who seemed to be holding back right now.

The Delinquous was unrelenting and threw Arithmetic and Literature to the walls while it simply stared down Science and History after doing so.

"Pretty Cure, Legacy Tempest!" History cried out as she positioned her hands in front of herself to trap the Delinquous into an hourglass. The Delinquous was caught for a few moments, but it broke out quickly, seemingly unaffected.

"History, on the count of three, ok?" Science said to her. History nodded and the girls darted towards the Delinquous.

"One..." Science shouted as she kicked the Delinquous up into the air and towards History.

"Two..." History yelled as sent the Delinquous flying towards the largest pod in the hideout.

"Three!" Science cried out as she closed the pods and put her hands in front of the vent on the side of the pod.

"Pretty Cure, Midnight Halation!" Science cried as she kept her hands on the vent. The attack went inside the vent and the Delinquous became obscured by the attack's mist of purple shrouding around it from inside the pod.

But once the mist cleared up, the Delinquous was still there, but parts of it became a shade of shimmering lilac.

"Did I do something wrong again?" Science asked in disbelief as the Delinquous struggled to break out from the pod.

"No, I don't think that's it..." History stated as she placed a reassuring hand on Science's shoulder.

The Delinquous was then broken out from the pod as it opened. The girls looked up to the top of the pods and found Vice standing on top of the emergency release button.

"I think it only got purified halfway because this one was mutated before..." History hypothesized as she and Science took a few steps away from the Delinquous.

"Then...does that mean I should try again?" Science asked.

"Maybe..." History answered as they observed the Delinquous. It seemed a whole lot less motivated to fight and now, it was standing there, as if waiting to be purified.

Literature and Arithmetic came behind the girls and Literature spoke up," I have an idea. And Cure Science, you're right."

"About what?"

"Pretty Cure is about being strong and brave, even when you're scared. To fight for what you believe in and to protect the Inner Scholar in everyone." Literature grinned.

Science nodded and the girls all put their hands together in a circle, all of them staring directly at the Delinquous.

"Pretty Cure...Scholarly Blast!"

A ray of red, blue, yellow and purple all swarmed towards the Delinquous and lifted it up as the atmosphere changed color. After a few moments, the Delinquous was purified and reverted to it's original form.

Literature looked at the purified Delinquous in surprise and the rest of Cures looked at her suspiciously, with Vice and Rishi being nowhere to be seen.

"How did you know we could do that?" Arithmetic asked her.

"I saw from in an anime a couple of days ago..." Literature responded sheepishly.

"While it was a good attempt..." Renny began stiffly.

"...It was weak." Topher finished for him.

"I think this calls for a trip to Univer City, to train and power up." Renny declared.

The Cures looked at him in shock.

"You aren't serious are you?" History questioned.

"But what about school?" Science asked incredulously.

"School ends tomorrow." Arithmetic reminded in a deadpan tone.

"Oh, right..." Science said sheepishly, causing the rest of the group to laugh at her.

"Well, I think it'll be good for us to go to Univer City to train!" Literature declared as the laughter died down," And Science, I'm glad you're back on our team, we couldn't do this without you. We can't do this without all four of together, so I'm happy we're all back together and I can't wait to go to Univer City so we can all get stronger! Because maybe then, we won't ever have to let this happen again."


	20. Train! Like your life depends on it!

The girls were all gathered around the school yard a week later during winter break, each of them quite surprised that no one was here. Snow was really beginning to pile up in the field of the school, which wasn't much of an oddity for this time of year. About a third of the team dressed appropriately for today, while a certain single member shivered without end in her laced up studded boots.

"Well, Kanari, how was your birthday?" Yugure asked in hopes of taking the near frozen girl's mind off of how cold it was outside.

"I got a fruitcake in the place of a birthday cake." Kanari answered between shivers," But otherwise it was...just fine."

Kanari wore nothing but a thin bright blue sweater along with a green sleeveless sweater over it and a pair of khaki shorts wore over tights. With not even a pair of gloves or a hat to keep her warm, she certainly wasn't in any place to complain about how cold it was.

Chiyo hadn't arrived as of yet and Renge was too busy thinking about last week to pay any attention to Kanari and Yugure.

When she went for her afternoon classes on Thursday, everything appeared as normal with the exception of art club. Despite the teacher being there, the class slacked off for the day as it was their last day in the club for the year. Most people were all finished with their final projects while some kids were putting final touches on their pieces and then there was the handful of kids who tried completing a project's that was supposed to take them four weeks to finish within the hour they had left.

Renge and Nao sat on opposite ends of the room, not even acknowledging each other's presence when they entered the classroom. While it still hurt Renge to think about what happened between her and Nao, she decided some space may've been a good idea, otherwise she may end up making things worse. She sat with Shinko, who was working on homework for another class.

"You seem a little down today..." Shinko observed, while working on a set of math questions," Is everything alright?"

Renge looked over to Shinko gravely. She wasn't entirely sure whether or not she could confide in Shinko but, what was the harm in telling her? Being unable to identify a reason to keep Shinko in the dark, Renge confessed her issue.

"My boyfriend dumped me..." Renge admitted, darting her eyes to Nao for a split-second. She didn't use Nao's name because no one in the class knew they were actually dating. They may've thought they were crushing on each other, but it was highly unlikely that they expected anything more.

"Oh...I'm really sorry to hear that." Shinko replied with a look of sympathy on her face," Maybe you can try talk to him and see if he'll want to get back together with you."

"Maybe." Was all Renge said as she pushed her bangs away from her eyes.

On the other side of the room, Nao was sitting at a table with Marco, the blond's head down with his arms folded underneath it. His glasses were sitting beside Marco, who was killing time at the club by playing a game on his phone.

"You seem pretty tired." Marco remarked, not even turning to face to seemingly exhausted Nao.

Nao simply groaned and said nothing. Marco then looked over to Renge and Shinko curiously for a moment, watching the girls talk but unable to hear their conversation. He then looked over to Nao, whose head was still down on the table.

"Is there any reason as to why we aren't sitting with the girls?" Marco questioned suspiciously.

"I don't know why _you_ aren't with them." Was all Nao said, his voice muffled with his head still against the desk. Marco left it at that and continued his game.

As predicted, everyone loved the gifts Renge got for them and they all enjoyed going to the cafe on the Friday. The Friday was a half day for school so they went to the cafe at lunch time and they stayed much longer than they all expected. Who would've thought that the group would stay at the cafe from twelve to four? Time somehow flew that day, but even Renge genuinely enjoyed hanging with the girls, she still felt immensely upset about what happened to her and Nao, as this whole thing was mainly an attempt to not only not bond with her fellow Cures and Kokoro, but with Nao too. She didn't even get to give Nao his gift on Friday because he wasn't at school.

Before Renge could think anymore about the ordeal, Chiyo arrived and the group then looked to Renny and Topher, waiting for the two birds to inform them what to do next.

A thought then appeared into Yugure's mind as she looked to Renny and Topher," Just how did you two get here?"

Chiyo and Kanari looked at Renge for a second, who seemed just as clueless as all of them.

"I came through through a door that leads from Univer Kingdom into the human world and Topher just came through a letter." Renny debriefed quickly.

"You make my arrival sound boring in comparison to yours..." Topher grumbled, with the girls giggling a little at this.

"So, how are we supposed to get to Univer Kingdom?" Renge asked as the laughter died down.

"Take your pens out." Renny instructed. The girls did as told, each of them extracting their pens out from their pockets. Despite the day being rather cloudy, the pens managed to sparkle vibrantly from top to bottom. They all looked down at their pens in hand, awaiting for further instructions.

"So, do you wanna say it?" Renny asked Topher as the girls waited patiently.

"No, it's cheesy. You can do it." Topher permitted as he looked over to the girls.

Renny drew out a small sigh and said," Alright, repeat after me. Greatness and knowledge is sealed off in, a land worlds away where most from here have never been. From creation to evolution, this world has seen it all, but it is need because of someone's greed and so we'll together answer the call."

"I'm going to need you guys to write that down for me because I can't barely remember that first verse." Kanari stated sheepishly with Yugure nodding in agreement.

"He can't!" Topher blurted out. Renny looked at him with his eyes narrowed and elbowed him unforgivably.

Chiyo asked in suspicion,"Why-?"

Renny then cleared his throat, regaining his composure," Because, I simply can't. You'll just have to do the best you can."

Kanari shrugged and the girls all held their pens out.

"Greatness and knowledge is sealed off in, a land worlds away where most have never been. From creation to evolution, this world has seen it all, but it is in need because of someone's greed and so together we'll answer the call!"

After repeating the incantation, a door made from oak appeared made of oak and decorated with small crystals on the frame appeared before them. The girls exchanged expressions amongst themselves after taking a look at the door. Then, while placing her hand on the doorknob, Renge stepped in front of everyone and declared,

"We're not going to get to Univer by just staring at the door!"

She opened the door and door literally sucked the group in. They were met inside a pink and blue hyper space, all of them floating around, though half the group felt fearful as they floated around in the hyper space, feeling as if they were falling.

"How much longer of this Renny?" Chiyo yelped as Renge clung onto Chiyo's shoulder, with Topher on top of Renge's head.

"It depends, it could be a minute more, a half hour..." Renny answered unsurely with an awkward chuckled.

"A half hour?!" Chiyo shrieked.

"Chiyo look~!" Kanari called out in a voice much more mellow than the brunette's as she did the splits upside down.

"No showing off Kanari!" Renge demanded as she shut her eyes.

Before the group realized it, they were out of the hyper space and now inside the Headmistress' castle. They were all lying down on the floor, trying to recover from their trip through the portal.

"Well, that was quite interesting!" Yugure cheered as she sprung to her feet.

Chiyo's legs were quaking and Renge felt unable to part herself from the floor.

"So, uh...where are we now?" Kanari asked as she inspected their surroundings. They all arose to their feet as they looked around the room. It was very clean, pristine even, and it felt almost regal. The walls were painted a very bright shade of white and there were fancy, intricate pillars around the room. The only thing the girls failed to take note of is the shiny, pale gold tiles they were standing on.

"This is the hallway that leads to the door." Renny answered.

"So, what's our first order of business?" Renge asked as she dusted her pants off, though they didn't need much dusting as the floor was so clean.

"Find the Headmistress and inform her that we've arrived." Renny answered as he led the girls out to the Headmistress' throne room. As the girls walked with Renny leading them, they observed the hallway curiously, as if they were inside a museum. The walk to the throne room was shorter than they expected because the next thing they knew, they were all standing in front of the Headmistress.

"So, Renny, Topher, I assume these are the Pretty Cure. Greetings ladies," The Headmistress said to them in a kind, serene voice.

"Good morning to you, Headmistress!" Renge blurted out awkwardly with a stiff bow. Her fellow teammates looked at Renge incredulously before following suite. The Headmistress looked nothing like the girls imagined with her delicate white and cream yellow dress and knee high golden shoes.

The tan skinned woman chuckled and pulled some of her dark brown hair behind her ear," So, do you girls have any concerns about the Pretty Cure? Have you found any clues regarding where the Book of Omnipotence might be?"

"We haven't found the Book as of yet, but it's just a matter of time now since we're only going to get stronger from here." Renge answered, feeling a little bad for lying to the Headmistress," But...there is one thing that has been concerning us as of lately..."

"Yes? What is it?" The Headmistress beckoned.

"Temptasia. Why does she want the book so badly? And, is she a new threat to Univer Kingdom?" Chiyo asked.

The Headmistress lead the girls to a hallway where a bulletin board of wanted pictures resided. The picture in the center appeared to be Temptasia in her younger days as her hair was much shorter and the picture seemed a little dated. Her maroon eyes were sending shivers down Renge's spine as she looked at the photo.

"She had been a threat for years. But, no one expected her to do anything since we kept her locked up." The Headmistress explained sternly.

"Why did she have to be locked up?" Kanari asked.

"Because she had powers that could only destroy everything that crossed paths with her. She had been locked up so well that I didn't even know about her." The Headmistress replied.

"Seriously?" Kanari blurted out, clamping her own mouth shut after saying that.

The Headmistress gave her a somewhat sheepish grin and led them outside of the castle.

As the group began to walk out of the castle and into the city, Renny was asking the Headmistress a plethora of questions regarding how Univer Kingdom was doing.

"Is everyone safe? Have things gotten any worse? Have your guards been looking for the book in the kingdom?" Renny asked attentively as the Headmistress led them to the city. The girls were astounded having never seen Renny in such a talkative mood as he continued to ask her as many questions as he possibly could regarding the state of Univer Kingdom.

"So, how big is the city?" Kanari asked Topher in a low voice as they continued to walk.

"Fairly big." Topher responded neutrally as he flew," But, there's actually more to Univer Kingdom than the city."

"Then, how comes you guys have never mentioned that up until now?" Yugure questioned, sounding quite curious as she leaned over to Topher, keeping her voice low as well.

Topher darted his eyes to the Headmistress, who was preoccupied with Renny's endless questioning and looked back to the girls," The people of Univer City kinda put people who live outside of the city in low regard."

Yugure and Kanari exchanged expressions and looked at Topher who seemed a little regretful in answering that question.

Soon, they arrived in Univer City. As the girls walked through the city, they carefully observed their surroundings in awe. Renge made sure to take in as much as she could as she spun her head around in different directions, seeing things like bookstores, large schools, libraries, and plenty of other things. The city felt like a University campus to the girls as they walked around the city.

"Currently, we're in the Scholarly Square." The Headmistress informed the girls," Scholarly Square is a very old place in Univer City. It is said to be where the book of Omnipotence was created. It's a popular spot here in Univer City as it's not only a great place to do things like study and such, it's also has this rather modern feel to it that attracts many young adults, though it's been around for centuries."

Renny and Topher began taking notice of a few things as they walked through the square, such as the square being less populated by people. Did that have to do with the disappearance of the book? Or maybe they were just imagining things. But the two of them noticed there were less and less fairies crossing their paths as they continued to walk. The both of them then wondered if the Headmistress had even told the people of Univer City that the book went missing. As they walked through the square, they began seeing things like restaurants and cafes along the cobblestone sidewalks.

One girl who was pouring water into a glass from a pitcher saw the Headmistress from the corner of her eye and spun around, spraying water everywhere and called out,

"Good afternoon Headmistress!"

The Headmistress waved to the girl and the girl smiled giddily, unaware of the pair of glares she was receiving from her guests.

"Is that what it's like to be popular?" Kanari asked Yugure with a elbow-nudge.

"How would I know?" Yugure answered with a forced giggle as they strode through the square.

The Headmistress was met with quite a few more greetings and words of praise before they all arrived in front of a fountain where the Headmistress sat on the ledge of.

"Um, what are we doing now?" Renge asked as they stood before the Headmistress awkwardly.

"Just give them a moment." The Headmistress instructed with a wink.

"Headmistress, are going to tell a story?" One of the citizens asked as he took notice of the Headmistress sitting idly on the fountain ledge. The man's question made a few of the other citizens look at the Headmistress expectantly.

"Gather around citizens! It's time to listen to a tale from generations past!" The Headmistress announced. Soon, many citizens, humans and fairies alike, gathered around the fountain excitedly to hear the Headmistress' tale.

The Headmistress cleared her throat and stood on the ledge of the fountain,"Once upon a time, there were two creators to a new world, a world dedicated to the foundation of knowledge, where in this world, education was everything. The two creators were created by a higher deity. One of the creators were bestowed with infinite knowledge, the other was given infinite power, and the ability to use magic. The creators were a book and a young woman. The two of them worked together to build their new world and brought some people from the human world into it to populate. But, when it came to deciding a ruler, the book had chosen someone other than the woman to rule, believing the woman was unfit to rule with her strange powers and therefore toxic to the foundation of their world. The woman, enraged by all this, declared war upon the book and so, a fight broke out between the people and the woman. The woman lost and because of her faith that their creator would've done something about this tyranny and bestow upon her some miracle, she was declared the angel of darkness. The woman was full of wrath and displeased with the fact that the book didn't think her to be worthy of the title Headmistress. But, it appeared the book must've seen it coming, as it prepared itself for war when it rejected the woman. It was as if it knew the woman would declare the war. But, how could it have known that? It must be because, the book knows all and all of Univer Kingdom..."

"...Know the book!" The group of civilians finished.

"Every month, the Headmistress comes to tell us a story from centuries ago. Some of them from the human world, others from ours." One woman told the girls,"But, she rarely speaks of the book anymore, I wonder what gives?"

Renge side-eyed Renny who seemed unsure of what to tell her.

"Maybe she didn't tell them so that they wouldn't worry?" Renny hypothesized quietly into Renge's ear.

Renge shrugged and the girls stood around the Headmistress who sat back onto the ledge of the fountain.

"So, did you enjoy that?" The Headmistress asked as she exhaled out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah we did..." Renge said, after remembering why they came to Univer in the first place,"...But, we came to train and get stronger."

Renge then felt a wave of regret come over her as she said that. Usually she wasn't one to voice her opinion so carelessly, but she had a feeling that her fellow Cures were growing impatient just like her. But asking the Headmistress in such a rude manner, what was she thinking? She adverted her eyes from the Headmistress and looked to the ground timidly.

"Of course you did! But, the ferry hasn't come yet!" The Headmistress claimed.

"Ferry? What ferry?" Renge questioned with a tilt of her head.

"The ferry that will take you girls to your training island. It should be coming in an hour or so, and it takes a half hour to get to the dock by foot so, I guess we should be off now!" The Headmistress declared as she led the girls to the dock.

As they left the square to head off to the dock, Chiyo took up Renny's role in asking more questions than intended.

"Where is this training island? How far is it by boat? Will there be people who will train us there?" Chiyo probed.

"The training island, Nichibotsushima is about twenty minutes away by boat. The island has many people indigenous from the island living there. They will help you all train and learn to work as a team." The Headmistress explained.

Before they knew, they reached the dock and boarded onto the ferry.

"Training on an island sounds quite nice, maybe they'll even be a beach for us to train on too!" Yugure said to Renge as they got onto the ferry.

"I wonder if Renny and Topher have been on the island before." Renge pondered as she glanced over to Renny and Topher who were sitting near the front of the ferry.

When they arrived on Nichibotsushima, they couldn't believe their eyes. They left the mainland around four, and it seemed like it was only eleven-thirty here. It made the girls wonder if they were in different time zones. It couldn't have been possible to travel over that many time zones in only twenty minutes, could it? The island looked like a very large beach to the girls, with sand just about everywhere and palm trees encircling the island. As they got off the ferry and onto the dock, they looked down at the water below them, not realizing how blue it was before.

"Woah, is that a volcano?" Kanari asked as she pointed to what appeared to be a volcano in the distance.

The girls looked over to Renny and Topher, who didn't seem so sure themselves.

"You know, I'm starting to feel a little hot..." Renge stated as she tugged on her winter coat.

"The natives here probably have something you guys can wear." Topher stated before a grey and fuchsia bird approached the group.

"Welcome to Nichibotsushima! You must be the Pretty Cure!" The bird greeted," My name is Makena and I will be your training instructor during your stay here. Renny, Topher? You have a few relatives that would like to see you. Perhaps you should drop in for a few minutes to say hello while our suitors find the girls something more suitable to wear for their stay on the island."

"You guys have relatives here?" Chiyo asked while looking down towards the birds.

"Yeah, our parents are from here." Renny replied while Makena led the girls into a house that was reminded them of a tree house, but instead of being held up by a tree, it was held with long wooden supports under it with a staircase leading to the front door.

The girls went into the house and were greeted by a flock of birds who had outfits all made for just for them. They looked very much like kunoichi outfits, which the girls found quite interesting.

Topher sat at the beach shore, in human form and in shorts and the waves crashed against his feet.

"So, did you get to meet your relatives?" A voice asked him from behind. He spun around and saw Kanari, standing in a pale yellow tank and and bright blue loose maxi-skirt.

"Weird, I know." Kanari said for him as she sat down beside him," Apparently they got my measurements all wrong and now they gotta do alterations on my outfit."

"You're right..." Topher said absently as he looked towards the waves,"...You do look weird."

Kanari shoved him and stuck her tongue out to him," So where's Renny?"

"He's talking with some people our uncle introduced him to, not really sure about what though..." Topher responded.

"So Ren, how's your mom doing?" One of Renny's uncles asked him as he opened up a can of soda. Renny was sitting inside a hut with some of his aunts and uncles.

"I'm not too sure to be honest, I haven't had time to see her but the Headmistress told me they were fine." Renny explained," But I'm still grateful that Univer's ok, despite the book disappearing."

His uncles exchanged glances and motioned Renny to get up from his seat. His uncles led him outside of the hut and towards the north side of the island. They flew for quite a while in silence, which raised Renny's suspicions as they inched closer towards the north of the island. When they reached the north of the island, Renny flew carelessly before looking closely at his surroundings.

The north of the island looked nothing like the rest of the island. It was grey, literally grey and everything, from the palm trees to the side of the volcano seemed to be disintegrating away. It was a painful sight to see, and Renny had never even been here before.

"Has anyone disappeared?" Renny asked nervously as a brief period of silence.

"You're aware of bad things happening when the book isn't doing it's job right?" One of his uncles asked him," Well, this is only the beginning if the book isn't found soon."

"Soon, it won't just be the land. Once there's no more land, this...this is going to move to..." His other uncle trailed off.

"Well, this can't be the book's fault! Maybe, Temptasia had something to do with it! It's not like this has ever happened before, so we can't blame the book!" Renny defended.

"Renny, it's not going to matter who's behind all of this soon. Because if the book isn't found..." His uncle responded.

"We're going to find it. I swear." Renny declared sternly," We're going to revert this defamation, all of it. We'll...we'll fix everything."

His uncles said nothing more and the group returned to the south of the island, with Renny beginning to question just how safe his parents homeland and the citizens of Univer Kingdom were. As he thought about this, a thought appeared in Renny's mind that he really wished he didn't think of.

If the island was disappearing now, what was the state of Univer Kingdom _outside_ of the city?

Renny took mental note to ask the Headmistress about it when they returned to the mainland.

"Alright ladies, now that we all have our training uniforms, are we ready?" Makena asked before a ray of white, purple and pink lights appeared around Makena, transforming her into a tall, toned, dark-skinned woman with black hair with cyan, pink, and purple streaks held up into a large ponytail.

"Can all fairies do that?" Yugure asked curiously as she raised her hand.

"Can't say, but I know many of the natives here can do it. They just decide against it, say it's unnatural." Makena explained," All I have to do is say 'Are we ready?."

"Like how Topher needs to do a tongue-twister to transform." Kanari noted.

"So then, how does Renny transform?" Yugure whispered into Renge's ear. Renge simply shrugged and Makena blew a whistle that had been hanging on her neck the entire time.

"I want you ladies to do five laps around the island now!" Makena instructed loudly.

"F-five laps?!" Chiyo repeated incredulously," Do you even know how long that's going to take?"

"It won't take you that long my dear," Makena assured, still shouting," And when you're done, run another five more!"

Makena blew her whistle again," Now go!"

The girls all ran along the side of the island in fear of angering Makena. They felt their hearts race as they dashed along the side of the island, with Yugure leading the girls, Kanari following behind and Renge and Chiyo racing behind them.

During that entire run, the girls' legs felt as if they were ready to give out at any minute, due to them running as fast as they possibly could throughout the entire first lap. When the reached the checkpoint to advance to the second lap, they felt more than unable to walk another step, let alone run.

Makena blew her whistle.

"That's enough girls." Makena instructed as she held her hand in front of the girls to prevent them from running.

Kanari responded while panting," But we've got nine more to go!"

Makena took notice of the girls wobbling from their knees, all of them were unfit to run another lap in her eyes.

"The goal of the run wasn't to see how fast you could run ten laps in." Makena declared as she crossed her arms," But rather, to see how well you could ration out your stamina."

"Ration out our stamina?" Renge repeated as she stood up straight.

"You girls are all going to face many new obstacles as Pretty Cure from here on out." Makena explained slowly," The objective here was to not focus your energy towards completing ten laps just to get it over with, but rather to save up your energy and run at a pace where you won't tire out by the second lap."

"How does this relate to our battles as Pretty Cure?" Chiyo asked inquisitively," Usually everything we do is done with an all or nothing effort. It wouldn't make sense to store energy when we can regain some later. At least, in our situation, that's what I think would work."

"But, you don't if Temptation may change the mechanics of your battles and in the case of something like that happening, it's always better to be prepared, don't you agree?" Makena asked the group.

They all nodded and Makena proceeded to lead them to the other side of the island, where a pair of row-boats awaited them. One of them was red and yellow, the other blue and purple.

"Um, is this part of our training?" Kanari asked as she crouched down and inspected the row-boat closest to her.

"Do you girls all see that little island right there?" Makena asked as she pointed towards an island that was vacated with a single tree in the middle of the ocean. The girls all nodded when Makena pointed to the island.

"Your goal will be to pair up and row to the island with the boats. First one to the island wins." Makena declared.

"So...who teams up with who?" Yugure questioned.

Makena simply pointed to the boats and waited for them to figure out who was teamed with who.

Renge and Chiyo hopped into one boat while Kanari and Yugure were in the other.

"On your mark...get set..." Makena blew her whistle,"...Go!"

The girls began to row the boats, both teams seeming to be struggling with getting there boat close to the island.

"Chiyo, you're rowing too hard!" Renge complained as she tried match Chiyo's rowing speed,"At this rate we'll be rowing in circles!"

"I'm sorry, I can't really help it..." Chiyo responded as she tried slowly down a bit to match Renge's speed.

"Kanari, am I going too slow?" Yugure asked as she rowed the boat, feeling a little uncomfortable while doing so.

"No, you're doing just fine..." Kanari stated as she continued to row. Their team wasn't having a hard time with this race compared to Chiyo and Renge and were actually getting close to the island.

Renge groaned in frustration, still trying to match Chiyo's speed as her slowing down no longer seemed like a possibility.

"Mind if I...?" Chiyo finally asked Renge, motioned to her paddle while catching a glimpse of Kanari and Yugure inching closer to the island from the corner of her eye.

"By all means." Renge declared with her hands raised as she gave Chiyo the paddle. Chiyo began to row the boat and while they were making progress, they were unable to beat Kanari and Yugure as the two had just reached the island by the time Chiyo began to gain momentum.

Makena blew her whistle and raised her hand towards Kanari and Yugure's boat," Team Formula wins! Team Passion loses."

The girls rowed back to shore, with Chiyo of course still rowing for Renge.

When the arrived at the shore, Makena praised Kanari and Yugure," Good work ladies. As for you two..."

Makena shot a glare in Renge and Chiyo's direction as they got out of the boat, walked up to the and flicked Renge on the forehead with a disapproving look on her face.

"You shouldn't be allowing a teammate to be picking up your slack!" Makena chided while Renge rubbed her forehead tenderly," You must try your hardest to adjust your speed with your teammates, because if you can find yourself able to synchronize your movements with your teammates like this, just imagine what you could do when transformed."

"You're here to grow stronger as not only individuals, but as a team too, correct?" Makena interrogated.

"Yeah, you're right." Renge replied," So, what's our next task?"

"Hm, your next task shall be..." Makena began, stroking her chin as she tried to think of something,"...To climb to the top of the volcano!"

"B-but, what if erupts?!" Yugure stammered as her face turned pale while setting eyes on the volcano.

"It hasn't erupted in over thirty years." Makena informed the girls," And I doubt it will anytime soon. So, you'll all be divided into teams again!"

"Let's hope Team Formula wins this one too." Kanari said to Yugure as she offered her a fist-bump.

"Nope! I want different teams. But, who will be with who...?" Makena wondered, " Ah, that reminds me. Topher!"

Topher, who was spying on the girls behind a palm tree and still in human form, flinched upon hearing his name being called out and reluctantly peered his head out from behind the tree.

"...Yes?" Topher asked nervously, his eyes downcast due to him being to afraid to look Makena in the eye.

"Find Renny, I want you two to join the girls on this next challenge." Makena instructed before turning her attention back to the girls.

"Now...what are these teams going to look like?" Makena wondered as she narrowed her eyes while looking at the girls,"Hm...ok. The teams will be Renge and Kanari with their opposing team being Yugure and Chiyo!"

Topher brought Renny over to the group just in time.

"Renny, I want you transformed for this challenge." Makena declared.

Renny squinted at her unsurely and said,"Why?"

"Well, it isn't called a _challenge_ for nothing!" Makena indicated in a unusually jolly tone.

"Renny's got a human form...?" Kanari questioned Chiyo in a whisper, scrutinizing Renny who just stood looking very panicked.

Renny then picked up a stick and started writing something into the sand. The girls and Makena all gathered around, curious to see what he was doing.

"Is that...a BEDMAS equation?" Kanari inquired in confusion as she watched Renny write the equation down into the sand. When Renny finished the equation, a puff of orange appeared and in the place of Renny the orange bird or as he like to be called, fairy, stood Renny the human.

"Ok, Renny you're on Renge's team. Topher, you're on Chiyo's team." Makena informed.

"Team?" Topher repeated, seeming both rather skeptic and confused as he narrowed his eyes at Makena," What's going on?"

"We're having a challenge to see who can reach the top of the volcano first." Makena explained while pointing to the very top of the volcano.

"But, couldn't it erupt or something?" Topher asked worriedly as he looked up towards the volcano top. Renny gazed went to the side as he knew the volcano erupting wasn't likely going to be an issue. Though he secretly wished he was as ignorant as Topher right now.

"That's what I said!" Yugure exasperated in frustration, glad that someone finally saw the danger in going through with this challenge.

Makena blew her whistle," Each team gets a map and each team must start at opposite ends leading into the forest of the island."

Makena handed each team captain a rolled-up map. It seemed a little bit small when rolled-up, but neither of the team captains complained. The teams then went to their starting position and Makena blew her whistle shortly after. Both team ran into the forest without a second thought, rendered unseen from where Makena was standing because of all the palm trees.

Renge, Kanari and Renny all huddled around each other while Renge unraveled the map. Once Renge finished unraveling the map, the team was shocked when they found out why it appeared so small when rolled up.

"This only half of the map!" Renge cried with a slight scoff, looking down apprehensively at the map.

"So that must mean the other team's got the other half." Renny examined as he looked at the map and where it ended off at. Renge and Renny stared at the map indecisively, trying to figure out what they could do about this missing piece.

"Lemme see it!" Kanari shouted as she lunged for the piece of the map and swiped it out of Renge's hands. Kanari examined the map and held it up to the sky, trying to determine what they could without the other half of the map.

"To be honest, I don't really think this is a problem." Kanari stated," Need I remind you...?"

Kanari turned around and looked at the volcano with Renge and Renny joining her a few moments after.

"You know, I don't really think it's finding the volcano is what's going to be the problem..." Renge began as she took the map back from Kanari," But rather..."

"Getting out of the forest to get to the volcano." Renny finished for her.

"Well...maybe we could go sneak out from the forest and reach the top from the back of the volcano!" Kanari declared," Makena didn't say anything about going around from the back!"

"No!" Renny blurted out in an alarmed voice, with all eyes falling to him in suspicion," Um, I heard that climbing from the back of the volcano is...forbidden here!"

"Ok, then we'll just have to work with what we've got." Renge concluded with a small sigh.

"How the hell could she give us only _half_ of the map?" Chiyo muttered as she looked at the map held between her hands. Topher tapped his foot impatiently while Yugure sat on a rock as Chiyo inspected their portion of the map.

"That means the other side of the map must be with Renge's team." Yugure reported as Topher walked up to Chiyo and looked at the map, his arms crossed.

"Do we really need the other side of the map though?" Topher inquired restlessly as he took the map from Chiyo and inspected it. Chiyo and Topher looked down at it, taking notice of the fact that dotted line leading to the volcano was short because of the fact that the rest of it was likely on the other team's side and it continued near the volcano.

"We might get lost if we try going without the map's direction." Chiyo reasoned as she glowered down to the map. If they just went straight ahead, they could just reach the volcano without the map right? But, then again, who knew what sorts of perils would've awaited them if they chose to just go straight. Plus, there were quite a lot of trees, too many to risk going straight and just getting lost on the way to the volcano. She then looked to the direction that the dotted line was leading to. Chances are, they could've bumped into the other team and then they could join their sides of the map together. Maybe that's was what Makena wanted all along.

"We're going to follow the map." Chiyo decided, with both Yugure and Topher looking at her in question.

"Follow the map? We can't!" Topher cried," Where is it supposed to lead us to if it's broken off?"

"With any luck. The other team." Chiyo answered as she began to walk in the direction the map lead them to, with Yugure and Topher following behind; the latter doing so reluctantly.

"So, our map cuts off here, continues here, and then...nothing." Renge relayed as she put her finger over the spot where the map ended off.

"How are we supposed to follow it then?" Kanari asked uninterestedly as she poked at a nearby plant.

"Have no clue..." Renge declared as she looked down at the map curiously. She looked around the forest and wondered if it was possible to try and get to the volcano without following the map. It couldn't work, who knew how big this forest was anyways? Getting lost was the last thing she wanted but with only half of the map, what else were they left to do?

"Let's go this way." Renge instructed as she walked towards the direction where the map was leading them to.

"Does this mean we're following the map?" Kanari asked as she began to follow Renge and Renny.

"I guess so."Renge replied, her eyes set on the map and the direction it was leading the group in.

Chiyo, Yugure and Topher trekked through the forest cautiously while trying to follow the map's direction to the best of their abilities. Even though their side of the forest was filled with creatures such as talking frogs, iguanas, and geckos, also known as all of Yugure's favourites, Chiyo remained calm and set her eyes on the map in hopes that they could run into the other team.

Yugure really, really wanted to talk to some of the iguanas and geckos along the way, some of them even complimented her on her outfit and hair, but Topher was against it. Apparently the creatures that resided in the forest were here for a reason; that reason being that no one on the island enjoyed their company and all they did was play cards and cheat to win.

"What if one of them knows the way to the volcano?" Yugure suggested as a last resort to talk to the geckos and iguanas.

"Getting to the volcano wasn't the actual goal of this challenge." Chiyo reminded uninterestedly," We're supposed to be looking for the other team."

"But what if they went they straight ahead?" Yugure pointed out, sounding a little concerned.

Chiyo merely shrugged and said nothing as the group kept walking towards where the map was pointing them to.

"Could you get a concussion from having a coconut dropped on your head?" Kanari asked as looked up to the top of a palm tree as she walked.

"Beats me." Renge murmured as she continued walking straight ahead with her eyes glued to the map.

Renny was beginning to grow paranoid as they walked around, feeling extremely worried about the volcano suddenly disappearing, along with everyone on the island at any given moment. But, whatever it was that was making the volcano disappear, couldn't work that quickly. Could it?

"Maybe it'd be better if we turn back..." Renny suggested nervously as he looked around the forest. Renge and Kanari, who were in front of him, spun around and glared at him appearing very puzzled.

"Why?" Renge questioned," If we go back, Makena's probably going to kill us and then say we missed out on the true objective of the challenge again, or something like that."

"Well what would that true objective be?" Renny asked.

"Get out of the way you stupid branch!" They heard Topher shout as he, Chiyo and Yugure emerged from a bush. Renge and Renny looked towards the opposing group while Kanari stared at a tree they were standing under.

"You guys have the other half of the map right?" Chiyo asked as she walked over to Renge. The two of them put their pieces of the map together and the map was now whole.

"Do you think we should work together on this?" Renge asked as she and Chiyo looked down to the now complete map.

"That's what Makena wants." Chiyo responded as she pointed to the direction that the group was supposed to head towards. They all walked towards the direction she pointed to.

Kanari kept her eye on the palm tree as she walked, noticing one of the coconuts on the tree looking as if it was ready to fall. And just then, the one coconut did fall, with Topher right under it. She then dashed towards Topher and pushed him out of the way.

"What was that for-?!" Topher shouted before he saw the coconut drop behind Kanari.

"You could've got a concussion, or something." Kanari informed him neutrally and the two continued to walk.

The walk towards the volcano became much easier now with the map no longer in halves. Renge and Chiyo led the group, holding both sides of the map beside next to each other. Being so intent on going the right way though, neither of them had noticed things like snakes slithering beneath them and vines hanging in front of them, so Renny and Yugure had to keep watch for them.

Soon enough though, they were drawing very close to the volcano. The group could see it peek out between some of the trees now, and they no longer needed the map at this point.

"Guys can you see it?" Yugure asked excitedly. The group nodded collectively and Yugure, who seemed mildly uninterested in this entire challenge from the start, ran towards the volcano. Soon she was briefly out of sight, but then the group heard her scream.

The group rushed to her and found her surrounded by very burly shadow-looking creatures.

"I don't think these are guys are island natives..." Renge remarked as she and the rest of the girls took out their transformation pens.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" The girls called out in unison.

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic announced.

"The subject of generations past with that are sure to last, Cure History!" History announced.

"The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!" Science announced.

"Making learning fun, together as one, we are... Academia Pretty Cure!" The Cures announced as they each stuck a pose.

"Where did these guys come from?" Literature asked as she cautiously took a step back. The Cures and Topher didn't seem to have any idea, but then a thought came to Renny. They could've been made from Temptasia, here to make the island disappear just like the back of the volcano. He looked desolately over towards the shadow-like creatures, but didn't say a word.

Arithmetic charged up to one of the shadow creatures and formed glowing blue, geometric shapes within her hands.

"Pretty Cure, Geometric Frenzy!" She shouted. She aimed her attack right into the creature's core, but the attack bounced off of it. Arithmetic ducked quickly, as did the rest of them team.

"You gotta be more careful with where you aim that thing!" History chided as she stood back up.

"I didn't think it would do that..." Arithmetic shrugged.

"So if our attacks only reflect off of it, maybe we should just try fighting without our powers first..." Science theorized.

The Cures all exchanged expressions and went for it, each of them against a single shadow-creature.

Fighting against the creatures felt really strange as the creatures felt almost like rubber. It was like beating up a bouncy ball. One of the creatures threw Literature into a tree and she winced back the pain as she shut her eyes. She then noticed Science getting ready to use an attack.

"Pretty Cure, Celestial Starlight!" She cried out, secretly hoping that her attack wouldn't bounce off the creature's rubbery surface. The bright violet attack unfortunately did reflect and Science was forced to bend backwards to avoid getting hit.

Her attack was hurling towards History, who somehow manipulated her Legacy Tempest attack into a shield. The attack bounced off of the shield and was flung to the shadow creature Literature was fighting against. To her surprise, the attack actually landed, though it seem like it didn't do all that much damage.

As Literature looked at the creature she was originally fighting against, she tried to make sense of what just happened. An idea then came to her.

She shouted to Arithmetic," Use your Quadratic Termination attack as a shield!"

"Why?" Arithmetic yelled back over the roars of the creatures.

"Just do it!" Literature demanded. Arithmetic did as told and use her attack as a shield.

"Pretty Cure, Poetic Jurisdiction!" She shouted as her hands flickered red as an army of writing quills were projected out from them. The attack bounced off, just as expected and it then bounced off of Arithmetic's shield.

"Pretty Cure, Assassinating Diamante!" Literature shouted, turning the attack into a shield. Her previous attack bounced off of her shield and struck the creature. This time, it seemed to have taken more damage than before.

"So, basically...it's like Pinball." Literature concluded to herself," Guys!"

The girls all turned to her and she said," Keep your shields out, Science, use your Celestial Starlight attack."

Science nodded and shouted," Pretty Cure, Celestial Starlight!"

Her attack bounced off of the creature and came flying towards History. She blocked it with her shield and it came towards Literature, who sent it towards Arithmetic with her own shield. Arithmetic then directed the attack to Science's creature with her shield and Science ducked, the attack landing and obliterating the creature.

"It's...gone..." Science gasped as she turned around.

Just then, one of the creatures came from behind to attack Science, who had been without a shield the entire time.

Out of instinct, she shouted, Pretty Cure, Cosmic Eclipse!"

Her attack bounced off of the creature and went flying to Literature, then Arithmetic, then History, then back to her as she formed a shield in the blink of an eye. The attack was landed and another one of the creatures were gone.

"Um, where did those last two go?" Arithmetic asked, noticing that that they were nowhere to be found. She then heard loud footsteps coming from behind her.

Renny shouted,"Arithmetic behi-!"

"I know, they're right behind me aren't they?" Arithmetic interrupted.

"Well, I wouldn't necessarily call it _they..._ " Literature said as she and the rest of the group looked at the creature. The remaining two seemed to have fused together to create a larger version of themselves.

The creature glowered down to the girls and Literature said to them," We're probably going to need more than one attack just to finish it off now."

"So, do you mean...launch our attacks towards each other simultaneously?" Science questioned.

"Well, I was just thinking one at a time but...we did come here to train. So let's put everything we've learned so far to the test!" Literature exclaimed.

"But what if one of us gets hit an attack?" History questioned.

"It won't happen if we focus hard enough and work as a team, ok?" Literature affirmed. The Cures nodded in agreement and Literature was the first to attack.

"Pretty Cure, Assassinating Diamante!"

Then came History to attack, then Science and finally Arithmetic. It really did require a team effort for this to be executed without fail. The Cures would run to different spots as the creature made from shadows tried attacking them in the midst of powering up their own attack. The Cures focused as hard as they possibly could to make sure none of them would get hurt and that they themselves wouldn't get hit in the process.

It went well, and then all of the Cures sent the attacks that had been flung to themselves towards Cure Literature without realizing.

"Shoot! Is she going to be ok?" Arithmetic shouted as she gritted her teeth.

Literature shout her eyes and looked away, her shield as her only protection from the four spheres made from their attacks zooming towards her. All the attacks bounced off her shield and she pushed towards the edge of the volcano.

The attack was hurled towards the creature and once it came in contact with it, the creature roared out in anguish and was destroyed.

"We...we did it?" Literature said in surprise as she looked towards where the creature once was.

"Congratulations girls." A voice said as a figure emerged from a crowd of palm trees. The figure was none other than Makena.

"Makena? This was your doing? How?" Literature probed as the group walked over to Makena.

"If I told you, Renny and Topher over here would likely report me to the Headmistress and get me reprimanded." Makena replied flatly with her eyes darting to the two siblings," But, let's just say I have some...special powers, ok? But, anyways, you girls have completed the challenge successfully by joining your sides together and teaming up to defeat your enemy! I'm afraid my work here is done. All I have left is to direct you to where the Headmistress instructed you girls to go to next."

"Direct us where?" History asked cautiously.

Makena led them towards the side of the volcano, where a small boat awaited them on the shore.

"Are you taking us back to Univer City?" Arithmetic asked.

"Nope, but rather, another island." Makena answered as she motioned the girls into the boat.

The Cures got into the boat and Makena drove them north. Soon, they reached a small island that seemed incredibly unpopulated with just about nobody in sight. The island seemed to have just as many palm trees as Nichibotsushima, but because it was smaller, the palm trees made the island feel far from spacious.

As the Cures reached and got onto the island, they felt uncomfortably quite quickly as they fought for some space between the large amount of palm trees. Makena lead them close to the center of the island, and then she stopped in front of a very, very small clearing.

"Why did we stop?" Science asked she rubbed her arm tenderly, the trees had scraped her up quite a bit as she tried to walk pass them.

"The Headmistress didn't intend for me to train you in regards to your powers, but I did anyways. But, I didn't train you to reach the height of your potential because well, I can't." Makena stated as she brushed away sand from a glassy surface," I have to leave that part for you girls on your own."

"So, where exactly are we going?" Literature asked, a nervous tone ringing out in her voice.

"Tsundoku Caverns. The Headmistress said important findings await you here. But I can't tell where exactly or what they are since I don't know myself. She also requested that Renny and Topher are to not accompany you on this quest."

"Why?" The two boys asked in unison.

"I don't have a clue." Makena responded as she stood up," All you need to do to get down there is simply break the glass right here."

The glass was large enough for all four Cures to fit on it.

"Unfortunately, simply standing on it won't break it." Makena mentioned with a small sigh.

"So, how is it supposed to break?" Literature asked.  
"I guess one of you could crush it with your heel." Makena suggested with a shrug.

"I'm not going to break it." History declared.

"Me neither." Science quickly stated.

"Oh for crying out loud..." Arithmetic groaned as she smashed her feet onto the glass powerfully, causing the glass to break under them. The Cures could be heard screaming from where Makena and the boys were. Makena laughed a little, wondering to herself how long the girls would be falling for.

"So, now can you tell us why we aren't allowed to go with them?" Topher asked, sounding mildly irritated.

"I already told you, I don't know." Makena answered," But my guess is because this is going to be something that would only make us a hindrance if we were to join them. I have a feeling this is for them to utilize not only their strengths, but their powers. I don't know what's going to happen to them down there, but I can tell you this; this is likely going to be the most important stage of their training."


	21. Into the Tsundoku Caverns we go!

Today was going to be the day, and thinking about it was making Kokoro feel both rather excited and nervous. But currently, she was feeling more of the latter. She woke up earlier than expect on this fine Friday morning, most likely from feeling so anxious for this afternoon. She sat up straight in her bed, trying to remember her dream, with little avail. All that she could remember was Renge being in it, along with Nao.

She then took her phone from her side-table and looked at the text message Renge had sent her a few days.

 _"Hey Kokoro. How's your winter break been going so far? Hope you had a Merry Christmas! Sorry we couldn't hang out since I was on vacation. Anyways, I was wondering, I hope it wouldn't be too much to ask but...do you think it would be possible for you to try and talk to Nao for me and trying to try and convince him to get back together with me? I know, I'm asking for a lot right now. But all I'm asking is for you to try and put in a good word for me. Anything to make him rethink his choice. Please, I can do the rest. I don't really trust anyone else to do this either. If you can't it's ok! But, Nao means a lot to me...and I don't want to lose him like this. So, if you could do it, it'd be greatly appreciated."_

Kokoro looked down at the novel of a text and beamed," Don't worry Renge! I'll fix you and Nao back together!"

Meanwhile, the Cures were still plummeting down to the bottom of the Tsundoku Caverns. But soon enough, they were met by the floor of the caverns, with all of them landing on Cure History.

"Get off of me!" History barked, scaring the Cures off of her.

The Cures stood up and dusted themselves off compulsively as they looked around the cavern. It was eerily dark and a little cold, with not much in sight aside from many crystals shooting up from the ground and a single, very small body of water a few feet from them. But, what was really driving the Cures on edge was how quiet it was. You couldn't hear anything because, there was virtually nothing to hear. The longer the girls stood around, the more skeptic they became.

"Why did the Headmistress want us to come here?" Arithmetic asked as she stroked the glassy surface of one of the crystals with her finger.

Literature looked around and shrugged, saying," Maybe there's something waiting for us up ahead."

"Like what?" History questioned as she turned around, feeling as if something was going to sneak up from behind her.

"Well, I don't know. We aren't there yet." Literature responded, her lips curling to form a half-smirk. And so, the Cures began walking through the cavern, becoming quite wary of their surroundings after only a few steps. Walking through the odd, empty cavern full of absolute quiet arose fear in the Cures like they've never felt. They all had this constant, unfading fear that something was going to attack them, but the question was...what?

Literature tried reassuring herself that this place was completely safe, as the Headmistress wouldn't have sent them here otherwise. Plus, Makena said something about this place having important things awaiting the group here, so how dangerous could it be? Once Literature decided that this place would bring the group no harm, she looked over to her teammates, who still seemed as fearful as before.

Literature took a deep breath and her eyes fell to the floor. She could try pretending that there was nothing here, but that vibe of something dangerous approaching them lingered and got stronger with each step they took, and there was no denying that.

"I wonder what's waiting for us in this cavern? Our untimely death?" History scoffed in a rather cynical tone as they continued to walk in the cavern.

"Would the Headmistress really do that to us?" Science said nervously as she darted her eyes from left to right.

"Probably not." Arithmetic dismissed, though she too was still feeling a little tense with her heart going a mile a minute," She needs us, so I don't think she'd see it fit to try and get rid of us in a time like this."

"Hey, look at this!" Science then exclaimed as one of the crystals caught her eye. She ran up towards it and the Cures circled around it, seeing a book crystallized inside of it.

"What's a book doing inside there?" History asked as she narrowed her eyes at the book. It was open to the middle of the book and one sentence was for some reason larger than the rest of the words on the page.

"I waited until afternoon patiently, hoping that she would arrive and run into my arms like old times, but sadly, she never appeared." Arithmetic read out.

"Well, at least we finally know why this place is called Tsudoku Caverns." Literature remarked as she looked around the cavern, seeing a few more crystallized books in the distance.

The rest of the Cures looked at her appearing quite clueless while she looked into the distance. She caught their gaze moments after.

"You guys don't know what Tsudoku means?" Literature inquired, sounding a little astonished.

They gave her no response and so, she just chuckled and said," Tsudoku; the constant act of buying books but never reading them."

"So, how did these books get here?" Science asked as she pressed her fingertips against the glass of the crystallized book.

Literature shrugged and motioned the group forward again. As they walked deeper into the cavern, they started hearing a voice call out for something.

"What was that?!" Science yell-whispered between clenched teeth as she hid behind History.

"Glimmer Ship? Where are you~?" They heard the voice call out. The voice sounded feminine and as if it belonged to a woman in her young-adult years. The voice rang out and bounced off the walls of the cavern as the person continued to shout.

When the girls got closer, they saw a girl standing all by herself in the cavern, looking quite distressed as she shouted while looking around in every place possible for her apparent missing ship. The girl had long, cerise coloured hair with a peachy complexion and dark eyes. She wore a white sleeveless shirt with a grey sash, a long light brown skirt and a dark blue bandana. The girls, except for Literature all looked at her curiously, feeling as if they all had met her before.

"Glimmer Ship~?! Ugh, where could you have gone?" The girl groaned before she saw the Pretty Cure standing before her," Oh! Um, have you seen my ship?"

"Sorry, we haven't seen your ship..." Literature replied as she watched the strange girl continue to look for her ship.

"Oh, that's too bad. I was going to go to the stream on the lower level...but with the cavern being all rearranged like this, I'm not even sure if can find the lower level now!" The girl complained.

"Rearranged?" Arithmetic repeated inquisitively.

"Every time somebody comes into the cavern through the glass, strange things happen. Be it, objects getting relocated to another level of the cavern, or the floors rearranging themselves. Very peculiar happenings, but you can never be too sure of where you or your stuff may end up, even if you were holding on it just moments ago." The girl explained," Whoever came through the glass must've come in a group of say, two or three for something of this caliber to happen."

"I'm guessing that was us." Literature said in a low voice as she looked down," Well, since this is kinda our fault, why don't we help you look for the ship?"

"Oh that would great! Thank you so much!" The girl gushed as she clasped her hands together.

"No problem, by the the way, I'm Cure Literature." Literature introduced, feeling a little strange to introduce herself like this," And these are my teammates, Cure Arithmetic, Cure History, and Cure Science."

"Tansy." The girl introduced," So, you're all named Cure?"

"Uh, no that's just a title! You can just call me Literature, or Lit if you prefer." Literature offered awkward as she extended her hand to her.

Tansy looked down at Literature's hand cautiously before she shook it," Will do."

"So this ship you're looking for...is it like one of those ones you put in a glass bottle?" History asked, trying to make sense of Tansy's lost ship ordeal, knowing it was unlikely that she could fit a whole ship into the cavern.

"Nope! It's very big!" Tansy exclaimed as she stretched her hands out and then spun around.

"I'm just going to hope she's exaggerating..." History said to herself as Tansy spun around carelessly.

"So um...I'm assuming you generally know your way around the cavern, when it isn't rearranged, right?" Literature asked, with a swift nod from Tansy," Me and my friends are looking for something, so...do you think you could lead us to the end of the cavern."

"Well, it depends, just what are you looking for?" Tansy inquired as she looked Literature dead in the eyes, awaiting attentively for her response.

Literature darted her eyes to her fellow Cures, who were unable to give her an answer. So she merely said,

"We don't know."

"See, we were sent here by the Headmistress to train and stuff, but she didn't tell us what we needed from here." Literature added.

"Ok, I get it. Perhaps she sent you girls here to do some soul searching." Tansy mused as she stroked her chin," Anyhow, let's start looking for my ship!"

As they walked through the cavern with Tansy, the Cures began to feel less and less tense with her by their side. Something about her relaxed the girls and they all couldn't understand why. During their walk, they saw more and more crystallized books in every spot conceivable, with even a few dangling from the ceiling. The cavern was as dimly lit now, the path now illuminated with crystals that glowed a radiant light.

"So, how come your down here?" Literature asked all of a sudden as they walked along the path Tansy led them in.

"I was looking for some books." Tansy replied casually as she looked around the cavern in admiration.

"What kinds?" History asked as Tansy continued to look around.

"Which ever ones I like." Tansy answered," I think books are a timeless treasure, incapable of becoming dated, and that they bring all kinds of people together, no matter how different they may be. Don't you think that's wonderful?"

The Cures nodded in agreement.

"So do you have a favourite book?" Science asked cheerfully while Tansy began to inspect a book in front of her.

"Well… I don't really enjoy the idea of singling out one book when I love them all…" Tansy answered as she laid her hand over the glossy surface of the crystal," But I guess you could I have a fondness for reference books, like encyclopedia."

"You know I feel like you and the Headmistress would make really good friends." Arithmetic remarked.

"Me and _the_ Headmistress? Oh, I could never…she's much too royal and famous for a lowly girl like myself." Tansy said bashfully with a small chuckle.

"It doesn't seem the Headmistress has a lot of friends come to think of it. Just adoring subjects.." Literature pointed out,"We also haven't met her family…"

"Well, perhaps she has her own reasons for not introducing us yet…" History reasoned.

"But, she seemed very lonely at the castle, like she was the only one living there…" Science mentioned.

"The Headmistress? Lonely? Oh, heavens no! At least, I doubt it. She has a step-mom and step-brother whom she loves very dearly, as if they were blood. But they haven't left the castle since August, not sure why though." Tansy explained," And her father, the old king is rather sick, so she takes care of him every night."

"Don't they have doctors for that?" Arithmetic asked.

"Well, the old king doesn't really trust them…he's become a little senile these last few years." Tansy explained sheepishly," Oh, what's this?"

The girls encountered a tunnel that parted in two inside the cavern at the end of the path.

Tansy cheered joyfully," This must be leading us to the lower level!" And with that she raced towards the left tunnel without a second thought.

The Cures exchanged expressions without following Tansy and Literature shouted," How do you know that tunnel will lead us to the lower level?"

Tansy then stopped in her tracks and spun around towards the girls, saying," Going right in the Tsundoku Caverns always leads to dead-ends!"

"How sinister." Literature remarked, well-aware that no one was going to understand her joke," I like the sound of it."

And so, the Cures followed Tansy down the tunnel, which was taking forever to walk through. The Cures asked Tansy numerous times if she was sure that this was the right way as they endeavored through the tunnel, with Tansy dismissively saying,' We'll get there soon enough!'. As the girls went deeper into the tunnel, the pathway felt more and more dreary as the amount of glowing crystals and crystallized books lessened along the way. The walk through the tunnel was also very quiet, the only sound that was audible in the tunnel being Tansy's carefree humming.

"So, how often do you come to the Caverns?" History asked in order to break the uncomfortable silence that she refused to let set in.

"Whenever I get the time to." Tansy responded neutrally as she looked into the distance, hoping to see the end of the tunnel.

"You said earlier that anyone who comes through the glass rearranges the cavern, implying that there are other entrances to the cavern. So with that being said, how did you get in here?" Arithmetic interrogated

"With my ship of course." Tansy answered as she spun around to give Arithmetic a wink," Why, would you look at that! I think we're coming close to the exit!"

Tansy pointed to the light at the end of the tunnel and dashed towards it with the girls following after her. As soon as the girls caught up to Tansy, they found that there tunnel led to an edge that circled around this part of the cavern, with water down below.

"Still think we're going the right way?" History questioned cynically with a scoff as the group looked down below.

"Why wouldn't I?" Tansy innocently asked, receiving a group of suspicious stares from the Cures," All we need to go is simply go down to the bottom of the abyss here, and then from there we can continue looking for my ship!"

"But isn't that dangerous?" Science asked as she took a step back from the edge.

"What if we drown or something?" Literature questioned as she looked down warily at the abyss.

"And what makes you so sure that your ship is down below the abyss?" History asked her doubtfully.

"Well, I don't know if it's there or not." Tansy merely answered,"But, it's worth a shot."

"But who even knows how deep this abyss is?" History asked as she glowered down to the body of water.

"Well, it can't possibly be _that_ deep." Tansy reassured as she waved one hand in dismissal,"Now shall we go?"

The Cures didn't seem to keen on following Tansy and so, Tansy had to try do some more convincing to get the girls to join her.

"You girls aren't from Univer are you?" Tansy realized," Well, I guess that would make sense of your fear of the deep sea. Alright well, it goes like this. Any large, deep body of water, always leads to somewhere. _Always._ You just have to swim towards it and then, like magic, you go through the sea floor and end up somewhere else. It's like a...like a, basement to the abyss."

"A basement to an abyss..." Arithmetic repeated skeptically with one eyebrow arched," How...how's that supposed to work? Where's the logic in that?"

"Despite being a home to many, many abandoned books, this cavern doesn't play by the books." Tansy giggled.

"I'm pretty sure there's a fine line between not playing the books and being impossible." History commented flatly.

Tansy's face fell after hearing that," Well, I guess I'll just go on my own then and you girls can turn back. Oh well, I hope you all find whatever it was that you were looking for."

Tansy then turned her back on the girls and just before she was about to dive in, her hand was grabbed by History.

"You really believe that this will lead you to some sea abyss basement huh?" History questioned.

"But of course." Tansy said jubilantly with a sheepish smile.

"Alright we'll join you." History decided, with Tansy clapping her hands in delight.

"Splendid!" She rejoiced, before taking notice of Literature, who still seemed a little unsure of swimming down to the bottom,"Literature, is something wrong?"

"It's just um..." Literature began while adverting her gaze from the rest of the group," I can't swim."

The Cures looked at her in surprise while Tansy just walked to her saying," Oh don't worry dear, it wouldn't be a problem! You see, the water here in the cavern, works in quite a strange, but beneficial to non-swimmers, kind of way. At least, in our case, it's beneficial. See, swimming downwards here is like free falling from a plane! You don't need to be a good swimmer to swim in the waters of the cavern, they do the swimming for you!"

Literature looked at her blankly, her eyes wide with fear," That sounds deadly."

"Please, believe me, it's all less threatening than it sounds." Tansy said as she held her hand out to Literature.

Cautiously, Literature took her hand and the girls then all dove into the water.

It was just like Tansy said, as all the girls felt that falling sensation as the girls were submerged into the water. It was a tad overwhelming for Literature, but with Tansy by her side, she didn't feel as scared as she expected. But soon enough, the girls were at the bottom and they passed through the sea floor, just like Tansy said they would.

The girls all fell to their feet as they as landed on the floor the sea abyss' basement. It was actually a whole lot darker here than the upper floor, but their path was illuminated greatly with jellyfishes and fireflies all encased along the path.

"Pretty but..." Science began nervously as she looked at the trapped creatures. Just then, Tansy let a case of fireflies free.

"I do wonder why they'd rather use 'natural' light sources instead of install a few lights or something in here." Tansy stated with a small frown on her face, looking down at the pedestal the case was sitting on.

The rest of the group was too busy looking at something up ahead.

"Girls? Is everything alrig-?" Tansy asked, cutting herself off before she saw what the girls were staring at," Oh, it's my ship!"

The ship was gigantic and very, very sparkly. Looking at the ship made the girls wonder how Tansy was able to get the ship into the cavern with it being so big. It was impossible to get a ship of that size into any entrance, at least, it _seemed_ impossible, but so was them going through sea floors and ending up in 'sea abyss basements'.

Tansy zipped towards her ship with the Cures following behind her. Tansy then stopped in front of the ship to take a good look at it, exhaling out a deep breath of relief as she did so.

"I'm so glad I found my ship!" Tansy declared as she walked onto the deck that led to her ship while motioning the girls to follow," Thank you so much!"

"We didn't really do anything..."Literature pointed out sheepishly as the girls slowly got on board with her.

"Well, you kept me company on my search, and that's more than enough reason to thank you girls!" Tansy beamed kindly," Oh! Maybe I can lead you to wherever it is that you're going!"

"But you came in search of books, we don't really want to deter you from original task..." Literature reminded her.

"Please I don't mind!" Tansy reassured," It's the least I could do for you girls!"

"Well, since you put it that way..." Literature trailed off,"...I guess we can go with you!"

"Excellent! Well, let me just start my ship up and you girls can just sit back and relax, ok?" Tansy instructed. The girls nodded and they walked around the deck while Tansy started up the ship.

"Woah, is that a treasure chest?" Arithmetic asked, dashing towards it curiously with History following behind her.

"Dude, she must be a pirate!" Arithmetic said to History with a giant grin on her face as she looked down at the open treasure chest.

Inside the treasure chest resided many fancy things including piles of golden doubloons along with precious, shiny gems and a few bracelets that appeared to be made from silver. It was all quite the sight for Arithmetic and History, though the latter appeared to be less enthusiastic.

Just then, a chunky silver bracelet with a faded purple gem encrusted onto it caught Arithmetic's eye. She was about to grab it to take a better look, but before she was able to, History took a firm grasp of her wrist.

"Look, don't touch." History advised, with Arithmetic nodding vigorously to make History let go of her wrist.

The ship set sail and girls walked around the ship looking around intently as this had been their first time on a ship like this. Soon, their wonder and awe died down a bit as the ride dragged on, so they sat around for the rest of the ride.

Literature looked down at the water for a very long time while beginning to zone out. But before she completely zoned out, she saw a figure in the water. She squinted down at the figure and leaned a little to get a better view.

Her eyes shrunk in fear as she got a better view of the figure, holding her mouth in shock.

"Renge,help!" The voice cried out desperately.

"Nao...?"

"Renge, please!"

Without a second thought, Literature was about to dive in head first to save him, but Science stopped her from doing so.

"Are you ok?" Was all Science asked her.

Literature stammered incoherently and pointed to the water where she saw the figure. They both looked down and the figure was gone, with Literature being unable to believe her eyes.

Literature took a deep breath and replied," I'm fine."

Science nodded slowly, a look of suspicion on her face as she examined Literature. She said nothing more and continued looking at the side of the ship nonchalantly.

It was smooth sailing for a little while, with a period of silence forming over the girls, and Tansy humming peacefully in the background. Tansy then looked up ahead and saw something rather unusual on their path. She squinted a little and went on her tiptoes to see what it was.

Her eyes went wide as she figured out what it was as she felt her ship being pulled at an unusual rate.

"Maelstrom!" Tansy cried at the top of her lungs while she clasped both of her hands onto the wheel.

"What's that?" Arithmetic shouted back as she clung to the pole where the ship's sail was hung from.

"A whirlpool!" Science shouted to her as she grabbed onto the side rails of the ship.

Tansy tried with all her might to steer the ship away from the whirlpool, her eyes streaming tears with the wind in her face. She pushed and pushed the wheel as hard as she possibly could without breaking it, but she couldn't steer the ship away at this point, they were in too deep now. She took a second to look over her shoulder and see how the girls were doing and saw the girls holding for dear life to the poles and side rails of the boat.

Tansy then looked back to the whirlpool and found her ship falling into it with waves ripping apart her ship unforgivably. The last thing that was heard was a group of screams from the girls and then, they all found themselves alone, trapped inside what appeared to be a basement of the sea abyss basement.

Cure Literature took a few moments to get up, still in shock from what just happened. She was soaking wet from head to toe and shaking like a leaf and she inspected her surroundings. She could still feel her heart race from within her chest as she tried to get back on her feet.

This basement of the basement was much more confined than the upper level, and there wasn't a lot of room to breathe comfortably here. It was incredibly dark too, and even more damp than any other level of the cavern. Literature pressed her hand against the wall and felt the cold rock-hard surface under her palm. She took a deep breath and looked up. The ceiling above her was translucent, but a little clouded at the same time. Literature's fear lessened upon seeing that, remembering the phasing through the sea-floor rule that Tansy told the girls about. But then her heart dropped upon realizing it wasn't a sea floor from where she was.

"Now what am I supposed to do?" Literature asked nervously as she looked up to the clouded ceiling.

Arithmetic looked around apprehensively, spinning around as she tried searching for some way to get out. She was stuck in a confinement just like Literature, but her walls were much more close together, as if she was at the bottom of a well, and the walls were slippery and wet. She looked up and started taking short breaths while putting her hands over her chest. She then shook her head and decided that she was going to try and shimmy herself up from the confinement by pushing her legs to one wall and her hands to the other.

So, she tried her plan out and placed her hands on the wall behind herself with her feet against the opposite wall.

Slowly, she attempted to pull herself up out from the confinement but, just when she felt comfortable enough to go a little bit faster, she slid back down to the bottom. She looked down at her hands desolately and wrapped her arms around herself moments after, reliving a fear that she hadn't felt in years come over her.

"It times like this that I wish I wasn't claustrophobic..." Arithmetic said to herself as she hung her head.

History sat down cross-legged impatiently in her confinement, still wondering how she and the girls made it out alive from that whirlpool. Well, she was wondering how she made it out one piece. Her confinement wasn't that of a tall one, so she couldn't even stand up straight within it. If this was the human world, there would've been zero chance of her making it out alive and in one piece with a whirlpool that powerful. Thinking about that look of absolute distress on Tansy's face unsettled her, so she decided to focus on the matter at hand. Getting out of here. She put her hand over the ceiling of her confinement as she stood up and tried pushing it open. She pushed as hard as she possible could and the glass wouldn't budge, not even a little bit. She then tried pushing it open with a high-kick, but all that resulted in was History getting a stubbed toe.

She cursed under her breath and sat back down, trying to figure out if there was anything else she could to get herself out of here.

Science was taking deep breaths as she looked up to the ceiling of her confinement, trying to see if she could actually see the ceiling. Her confinement was immeasurably tall, but thankfully, not too cramped. Although, she did have some company. That company being a large tower of crystals that seemingly led up to the top of the confinement. Science stared at the crystals for a long time, trying to decide whether it would be safe to climb the crystals. They seemed sturdy for the most part, but something about them looked like they be able to snap in an instant if one would try to climb it. And while Science really didn't want to take any chances with the crystals, she also didn't want to be trapped in here for any longer.

Literature paced around the confinement, deep in thought as she looked down to the ground. She preferred looking down instead of looking up to the unreachable ceiling as at least keeping the glaring issue at hand out of sight kept her at ease. She put her hand to the wall again, it still felt as rock-hard as ever.

She then decided to throw the hardest kick she could manage within the confinement against the wall but her kick do no damage whatsoever. Literature hopped on one leg and held her foot, feeling more than frustrated at this point. She put her foot down and balled her hands into fists angrily before noticing her fingertips glowing a pale red.

She looked down at her fingertips in astonishment and then looked up to the ceiling. She remembered there was one thing she hadn't tried yet as she wiggled her fingers impatiently.

"Pretty Cure, Poetic Jurisdiction!" Literature shouted as she aimed her hands up to the ceiling. The writing quills were projected out from her hands and when they hit the ceiling, they did no damage to the glassy-looking surface and disappeared upon contact.

"Well, so much for that attack." Literature remarked as she held up her hands again," Pretty Cure, Assassinating Diamante!"

The giant pale red diamond was launched up to the ceiling and when the attack landed, Literature could see her attack did end up dealing some damage onto the ceiling. Literature looked overjoyed by the sight, and while she knew she was supposed to wait a couple of minutes before using the attack again, she couldn't control herself and tried once more.

"Pretty Cure, Assassinating Diamante!"

This time, the attack brought indescribable internal pain within Literature, but she paid no heed to it. She simply looked at the ceiling expectantly and saw a few more cracks appear on the surface. Literature took a deep breath and readied herself for another attack and shut her eyes before shouting out the incantation.

"Pretty Cure, Quadratic Termination!" Arithmetic shouted at the top of her lungs with her hands held high above her. Just as the attack was shot out from her hands, she immediately drew them back and wrapped them around her sides, feeling as if her internal organs had all been ruptured simultaneously.

There were quite a few cracks on the ceiling above her head, and the only way she was able to see the cracks was because they glowed a vibrant blue on the glassy surface.

"Just a little bit more, I can do this!" Arithmetic told herself hopefully as she cautiously brought her hands away from her sides. The second she took her hands away from her sides, she felt the pain surge back into her sides yet again. Arithmetic then placed her hands back onto her sides quickly and gritted her teeth while shutting her eyes. Then, she looked at the ceiling again to remind her why she needed to pull herself together. She took quick, short breaths and slowly drew her hands away from her eyes were ablaze with determination as she watched the ceiling and examined all the cracks she created with her efforts. Even though the pain from overexerting herself was killing her, she managed to pull her hands up to attack again so she could break this barrier that kept her locked up.

"Pretty Cure, Legacy Tempest!" History was growing exhausted as she used the attack over and over again with her hands pressed against the surface of her barrier. She glanced at the surface and noticed many little cracks all over it, making it evident that her attacks were actually doing some damage.

"Strange..." History remarked as she ran one of her fingers over the cracks," There are so many cracks here and yet...it has yet to break. Just how is that possible?" She then shook her head and took a deep breath, feeling the urge to pace around but was unable to because of the size of her confinement. She sat back down cross-legged again and tried to think of something else she could do that involved using her powers. What else was there left? Surely she had to be missing something because it seemed like if the surface didn't break now, it never would. She needed a more powerful attack to get out of her, but what other attacks did she have left? She thought long and hard in determination before it finally came to her.

"Oh, that might work." History said to herself with a simple shrug of her shoulders.

Science wasn't planning on giving up anytime soon, even though her muscles and chest ached with each and every move. Not to mention she was beginning to feel a strange tingling sensation from legs. But that likely from the fact that she had tried climbing the crystal tower beside her inside her confinement. She leaned against the wall and looked down for a moment to catch her breath. She was unrelenting and very much not ready to quit even though it pained her to continue. She sighed and balled her fists, remembering why she needed to carry on. She needed to continue and break free so she could not only save herself, but the rest of the group if they happened to be in the same situation as her. They all came here to get stronger to defeat Temptation and Science wouldn't let a little confinement keep her from doing so. She crossed her arms and put one foot up against the wall, trying to think of something else she could do in order to break the barrier. She looked down at her hands aimlessly and tried thinking outside of the box. And then it came to her, and she lit up immediately at thought of breaking free from the confinement.

She glared at the glass surface that kept her imprisoned here and shouted out," Pretty Cure, Midnight Halation!"

Science then looked up expectantly above to see if the surface would break, but to her surprise, it didn't do anything of the sort. She felt her heart miss a beat as she looked up dismally as the surface.

"How...how is that even possible?" Literature questioned as she looked at the surface desolately. The surface was reformed, without a single crack after Literature used her purification attack. It didn't make sense, but at the same time, it did seem reasonable as it was a purifying attack. Literature then shouted in frustration and curled up into a ball. There was nothing left she was able to do. Her body had taken more than enough damage from overusing her Assassinating Diamante attack, plus it wasn't like using that attack over and over again was going to get her out of here as all it seemed to do was just generate more cracks on the surface.

"What else can I do? How am I suppose to get stronger if I can't get out here?!" She wailed as she kicked the wall of the confinement," We came here to get stronger not to be prisoners! How could this happen?"

Literature took a deep breath and looked around the confinement warily," I'd do anything to get out of here at this point..."

"Anything?" A voice asked her.

Literature's eyes widened in alarm as she heard the foreign voice respond to her,"Um...I guess...Can you help me? Whoever, or, whatever you are..."

"I can help you break free from this imprisonment." The voice offered calmly while exciting Literature greatly.

"Really? How? Oh, please don't tell you're just joking or anything..." Literature begged as she held her head up high and clamped her hands together.

"No, of course not..." The voice replied warmly with a chuckle," However... there is a catch..."

"What is it?" Literature asked attentively as she she stood up.

"Currently, you are not the only one of your fellow teammates to be imprisoned. As a matter of fact, your entire team is in the same situation as yourself. When you accept my offer, you won't be able to free them and you shall be transported to the Meadow of Euphoria. There, you shall find what the Headmistress sent you here for." The voice explained.

"But, I can't even hope to fight Temptation by myself!" Literature reasoned with a scoff.

"You could, if you had your friends powers..." The voice declared.

Literature took a step back and bumped into the wall, while sputtering out," I could never do tha-!"

"Think about it. If you don't take one for the team, Univer City is doomed to extinction without your powers." The voice stated," And you came here to get stronger to defeat Temptation, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah but-"

"Then what's stopping you? If you get out of here, you can save Univer City and find the book of Omnipotence. You can become the most powerful Pretty Cure the world has ever known! Wouldn't it be wonderful to be finally recognized for all of your efforts? To be idolized by millions and millions of people?"

Literature braced up against the wall uncomfortably, as if she was getting smothered by the words the voice was saying to her.

"So what do you say, my dear?" The voice asked Arithmetic.

Arithmetic was bordering on delusional at this point from being trapped in the confinement for so long and the voice's offer didn't sound all that bad, except for the part about having to ditch her friends.

"Will my friends be ok?" Arithmetic asked, laying against the floor of the confinement.

"Why, yes! They'll be fine!" The voice assured.

"And, I get their powers?"

"Yes! You can defeat Temptation all on your own without putting your dear friends in danger! You'll be their hero!" The voice claimed.

"Well, how could I be their hero if I agree to abandon them here?" Arithmetic questioned skeptically.

"It's only temporary! Once you defeat Temptation, you won't have to worry about rescuing them!" The voice declared encouragingly.

"Why? Because it'll be too late for me to rescue them by then?" Arithmetic asked.

"You know, I think you are a very smart and powerful girl." The voice said to History who sat awkwardly as the voice spoke to her," I think you could defeat Temptation all on your own and not even break a sweat. Think of how much more stronger you can be without those girls, who are supposed to be your superiors, dragging you down? You can reach heights you've never dreamed of reaching. You can go so far. All you have to do is say yes. And not only will you be the Pretty Cure of History, but of every subject ever known! You would be stronger than your entire team combined! You could destroy Temptation. You don't have to let your friends risk their lives if you take up my offer."

"What do I have that my teammates don't?" History asked tonelessly.

"Well, you're graceful and elegant and the strongest member of the team. You are the reason your team has come so far. And now, you can hone your strengths and become the most powerful Pretty Cure in...well, history."

"Cure Science, you truly are the brains of your team. You have the ability to change the source of your powers at will and have so much control over your powers now." The voice spoke to Science," You have done so much for this team that you don't deserve to be imprisoned in this confinement. You're better than this. You've been underestimating yourself for too long. It's about time you realize who's the most valuable member of your little team."

Science looked down, unsure of what to do. She knew she couldn't abandon her friends, but...what if this truly was the only way for them to defeat Temptation? Her friends were important, but the people of Univer City and her own world...what would happen to them if Temptation won?

Science stared at the ground, and then double-blinked upon realizing something," Hey, how did you know the book's been stolen? And, how did you know about my form change?"

"W-well, I..."

"How come it has to be only me? Why can't your, magic or whatever free all of us? And how does work that when I get freed, I get all my friends' powers? Isn't that just a lot more complicated than just freeing all of us?" Literature probed in irritation.

"That's simply because..."

"So if I choose to be freed with your offer, my friends have pay the price and be stuck here for heaven knows how long? Yeah, there's no way I'm taking you up on your 'little offer'." Arithmetic declared while bunny-quoting the words little offer.

"You're trying to separate me and my group aren't you?" History asked," You want to single one of us out, because you can't really give me my friends' powers. But you know I'm no threat without my team. And even if you really could give my friends powers, there's no way I'd let you. Those powers rightfully belong to my friends, who have been working just as hard I as have to get stronger so we can triumph over Temptation as a team! I could never accept your offer, because if I did, I wouldn't truly be a Pretty Cure would I?"

"I wouldn't be a Pretty Cure without my team, without my friends, so don't you even try to convince that I'm greater than them combined on my own! We're a team! We're Pretty Cure, and I would _never_ stoop so low as to let myself get freed while my friends suffered because of me!" Literature shouted.

Just then, a ray of light shot out from each of the girls and, once the light disappeared, a small creature that bared a faint resemblance to Renny and Topher appeared before each of the girls.

"What are...who are...what are you?" Literature asked as the tiny pink creature waved at her.

"Hi Renge! It's me, your Inner Scholar!" The creature said to her.

"My what?" Literature asked.

"Pleasure to meet you Kanari!" The blue Inner Scholar before the Cure clad in blue said.

"...Back at ya." Arithmetic said awkwardly with a very stiff wave.

"So, um...this is what my Inner Scholar looks like?" History asked nervously as she poked the yellow creature, who giggled a bit when poked.

"Yup! I'm honored to finally see you Chiyo!" The yellow Inner Scholar said with a few giggles.

"But...how is this even possible?" Science asked suspiciously as she stared at the green and purple Inner Scholar before her.

"You guys became stronger! You all stood up for what you believe in and then we got released!" Science's Inner Scholar said to her.

"Wait, so the other girls have their Inner Scholars out right now too?"

"Yup!"

"So, can you get us out of here?" Literature asked her Inner Scholar desperately.

"Yeah! Just hold on to my hand and we can get out of here!" Her Inner Scholar exclaimed.

"Um, ok..." Literature said as she wrapped her index finger around the little red creature's wrist.

"Now hold your free hand out to the ceiling!" The Inner Scholar instructed. Literature nodded and did as told.

All the Cures held their hands out towards the ceiling of their confinements and a light of red, blue, yellow and violet emerged from each of their palms, as well as their Inner Scholars and the glassy surfaces of their confinements were broken.

"We, we did it! We did it!" Literature cheered," But, how am I supposed to get out from down here?"

"Just jump!" Her Inner Scholar instructed," You've done it before."

Literature nodded and did as told. She jumped and her feet took her higher than expected and out from the confinement. From there, she saw Arithmetic, History and Science standing together waiting for her.

"You guys!" Literature cried as she ran up to them," You're all ok! And you have Inner Scholars too!"

"They have names." History stated as she looked over to her Inner Scholar.

"Wow, already?" Literature said before looking to her Inner Scholar," Do you a name?"  
"We named them." Science giggled and then held her hands out beside her Inner Scholar," This is Nikki."

"This is Julius, or Juli for short." History introduced, with Julius bowing a little.

"This is Bertie." Arithmetic introduced, with Bertie waving at the group.

"Well, this is...Lia." Literature introduced, wondering if her teammates notice that she only decided on a name now," So how are we supposed to get out of here?"

They were still in the caverns, and it appeared they were currently at the sea abyss basement, though there didn't appear to be any bodies of water in sight.

"I think that may be the way out..." History said as she pointed in front of them, where an exit out of the caverns was located.

The Cures ran to it with Literature asking under her breath," Could this be that Meadow of Euphoria that voice was talking about?"

When they got outside, they found themselves in what appeared to be the clearing of a forest and in the forest resided a group of red, blue, yellow and violet scepters in the middle of the field. The Cures looked puzzled while Literature ran at break-neck speed towards the center.

"Guys, I think this is what we came here for!" Literature said as she and Lia motioned the girls over. Literature's hands felt warm with the red and golden scepter in her hands. It was beautiful, and fully embellished with gems and had a heart identical to the one on her ribbon on it.

The rest of the Cures held the scepters corresponding to their theme colours and looked at the scepters in hand, appearing very intrigued.

Literature held the scepter close to her chest, and Lia flew close to the scepter.

"Maybe...maybe now...we might actually stand a chance..." Literature said as she looked straight ahead.

"Lit don't talk like that!" Arithmetic reprimanded, snapping Literature's attention to her," We're definitely going to beat Temptation! No matter what!"

Literature smiled a small smile and nodded," Right!"

Kokoro stood in the corner that led to the back hall of the school and prepared herself one more time before talking to Nao. She wasn't sure which surprised her more right now; the fact that school was open today or the fact that Nao actually agreed to come. She knew Nao was there, as she could here the sound of some video game being played. She just wondered if he knew she was there.

"So when are we going to talk?" Nao called out, sounding a little bored while Kokoro felt her heart speed up a bit.

Kokoro regained composure by taking a deep breath and walked over calmly to Nao," Hey."

"Hey." Was all Nao said, his eyes glued to his tablet.

"So, I'm guessing you're wondering why I wanted to meet you today." Kokoro said, only half-expecting Nao to ask why. Nao said nothing, and she figured this conversation was going to start off as a one-sided one as talking to Nao was like talking to a brick wall. Well, a brick wall with ears.

"So, a friend of mine says that she was really upset by what you did to her." Kokoro began slowly," She says she doesn't understand why you did what you and she wants to know if you're willing to hear her out."

She glanced over at Nao and frowned a little, he was too calm about this and that wasn't a good sign because calm meant he was thinking straight when he made that choice to end things between him and Renge. But, she knew Nao must've still felt something for her.

"Are you willing to rekindle a flame?" Kokoro asked.

"What's the use in trying to light a candle where a flame could never last?" Nao asked indifferently as he picked up his things and began to walk away from her.

"You...you broke Renge's heart!" Kokoro informed him, raising her voice unintentionally while doing so," And that wasn't very right of you!"

"You speak like you've never broken hearts before." Nao declared flatly, not walking anymore with his back turned to Kokoro.

"Fine! I admit it! I have broken a few hearts before!" Kokoro shouted," Be it, Satoru, or Masashi, or Takehiro, or Rei or Risako! But, it's not like my heart's never been broken before."

"Are you trying to say is that all I do is break hearts?" Nao asked, sounding a bit uninterested.

"Nao, you and I both know you wouldn't have let Renge in if you didn't care about her. You can fix this, both of you can!" Kokoro assured," Because, Renge still really cares about you."

"I don't believe you." Nao said tonelessly before he began to walk again.

"But...but you can't leave her now!" Kokoro shouted.

"Why not?" Nao asked her.

"She too busy with worrying about school and other things and because...because...Renge's a magical girl!" Kokoro blurted out, hoping her fib may've gotten Nao to think otherwise.

"I know." Nao said calmly as he turned around to face her, his expression neutral.

Kokoro blinked for a few moments in confusion, unsure of Nao was just toying with her or if he was actually telling the truth.

So with caution, Kokoro asked him," How?"

"We went to the aquarium a few months ago and I saw her transform." Nao simply explained. He then began to walk again.

"So does that mean you'll think about it?" Kokoro called out to him.

Nao didn't give her a response and Kokoro was left all by herself.

"Oh Renge, I hope I was of some help to you..." Kokoro said quietly as she looked to the floor," But, are you really a magical girl?"


	22. Better safe than sorry

When the girls arrived back from Univer City on the Sunday evening before classes would resume, they all felt like new people when walking back into their own homes. When Renge came to her own doorstep, her mother hugged her tightly and asked her how staying at the resort trip paid by Chiyo's mother went. Absently, Renge told her it went well and that was that. She went up to her bedroom, with Renny and Topher in her bag, still thinking about what the Headmistress said to her and the girls before they left.

 _"You found the talismans? That's wonderful, I knew you would anyways!" The Headmistress gushed endearingly," But, you girls looked quite exhausted. Did anything I should know about happen along the way?"_

 _Literature and Arithmetic exchanged expressions, with Literature saying," Well, we got caught into a whirlpool..."_

 _"You what?!" The Headmistress shouted frantically," Well, at least you girls are Pretty Cure. Otherwise, things would've been a lot worse for you girls in that whirlpool had you just been regular humans or something."_

 _"Um, what do you mean by that?" Literature asked casually._

 _"Well, the only ones who have been able to survive a whirlpool inside the Tsundoku Caverns are, you girls. Everyone else to encounter a whirlpool in the cavern is..." The Headmistress trailed off grimly," But, now's not the time to dwell on such thoughts. You girls should head back home, as your training here has been successfully completed. It'll only get harder from here, so don't ever drop your guard. I fear that you girls may not have been the only ones training for the last few days. Good luck on finding the book."_

 _"Thanks, we'll do everything we can to recover it!" Literature reassured._

The week back was just used to study for exams that would be happening next week, and so thankfully, there wasn't much homework distributed out in any of the girls' classes.

On the first day back from the break during lunch, Renge held a present in her hands, and stood close to a wall where she would be unseen by anyone in the back hall. She heard many voices mixed within the hall, but one voice, that said little, drowned out all the others in Renge's ears. Her ears got hot when she heard it and heart was throbbing uncomfortably as her hands began to shake with the present held within them. She had been standing here for almost twenty minutes now and she hadn't even progressed to sitting casually in the hall with Ayano and Kanari, who were only a few feet away from the recipient of Renge's present. It would've been easy to just act natural and talk to her friends, pretend that this wasn't a big deal but, that was also impossible for Renge right now.

She looked down at the present, feeling pretty sure of the fact that Nao likely didn't know about the gift and was starting to feel uncertain about whether or not she should give it to him. It was for him, but there were so many people around! The thought of walking up to Nao all awkwardly and handing him the present in an even more awkward manner made her heart race anxiously.

"Ha, I really can't do this." Renge said to herself softly as she tilted her head back. Maybe when crowd died down and there were less voices to be heard, her chances of going through with the task would've elevated.

After about another five minutes, people were starting to exit the hallway and go to their classes. Renge looked apprehensively at the groups passing by and then peered towards the back hall, making sure to be unseen by Nao and his friends, though Ushio had spotted her. Thankfully, he said nothing and Renge retreated to her corner where she remained unseen.

"You need to do this, you really need to!" Renge said to herself in a whisper," Maybe this could be a real game-changer for you, and maybe, just maybe...he'll realize how much he means to me."

Renge then took a deep breath and walked into the hall in a very robotic fashion. Few people were staring at her, but she paid them no mind.

 _"Oh god, I didn't think about what I was going to say! What should I say?"_ Renge thought to herself _," Hey, here's a you present for Christmas? No! Even my thoughts are getting all jumbled."_

Before she knew it, she was in front of Nao and his friends, with all of them, except for Nao, looking at her expectantly. She waited for a few moments, but he still didn't look at her.

Finally, she said while dropping the bag right in front of him," Here's a you present for Christmas!"

Nao didn't acknowledge her presence and Renge walked off seeming very flustered. When she reached the end of the back hall and was out of sight from Nao's group, she leaned against a nearby wall in exhaustion.

"I can't believe I said that..." Renge groaned, feeling as if her knees were about to give out. She then felt her phone vibrate inside her pocket and took it out in an instant.

"Hi Renge, I was wanting to confirm our meeting for today after school. Are you still coming today?" Renge read out quietly. It was an email from someone named Ina Fukami.

Renge then typed an email back, responding that she was indeed still coming after school.

After club, Renge got on the bus and took a seat near a window, feeling mildly nervous for her meeting. Today, she wouldn't have to get off at Ozawa Station and instead be going all the way to the station downtown, where only a handful of kids from her school would get off at. She seldom went to the station downtown using this route, so it was interesting to see parts of the city she hadn't realized were on this route, along with watching her fellow students get off before her for once.

When Renge got to the bus station at downtown, she looked around herself worriedly as she left the station. Downtown was a sketchier part of town and Renge hadn't had enough exposure to these kinds of places as of yet, despite being a third year in high-school.

She walked up to a tall building called Tsukuda Building and walked right in. Inside, she took out her phone and looked at the address again.

She murmured," Third floor, room number 301..."

Renge then came in front of an elevator and pressed the button for the third floor. When she got to the third floor, she looked around the room curiously before realizing there was a receptionist at the desk a few feet away from her.

The woman cleared her throat and startled Renge by saying," Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I have an appointment with Ms Ina Fukami. Is she in right now?" Renge asked.

"I believe she is, I'll tell her your here. By the way, what's your name?" The woman asked her.

"Kotori Renge." Renge answered as she awkwardly took a seat a few feet away from the desk.

"She'll be with you in about ten minutes." The woman informed her.

Renge nodded and looked around the room, taking in the odd smell of hand sanitizers mixed with books. She saw a few stock pictures of college students hung on the walls of the room with words like 'The choice is yours' and 'It's a world full of endless opportunities' written on them.

Renge then began to think back to her art class today, and how Nao was acting quite peculiar around her. For the last few days before the break when he broke up with her, he said absolutely nothing to her and flat out ignored her. But now, he was acting like he did in October, when they weren't yet a couple. Renge wondered if it was because of her present. She then reminded herself that she was running out of time to try and mend things with Nao while she could as there were only a few days left until the end of the semester. She wondered how it went for Kokoro when trying to talk to Nao but before she could think anymore about it, the woman at the desk caught her attention.

"Ms Kotori, Ina is ready to see you." The woman said.

"Thanks." Renge responded as she went to Ina's room.

At room 301 stood a woman with short brown hair and few blonde highlights sticking out greeted Renge. She wore a long pencil skirt that went to her knees and a grey blazer with a pale pink shirt underneath it.

"Hi, you must be Renge! I'm Ina Fukami and it's great to meet you!" Ms Fukami introduced as she extended a hand to Renge, who realized that she and Ms Fukami were the same height.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you Ms Fukami." Renge said as Ms Fukami led her into her office.

"Ina's just fine." Ms Fukami said to her as they sat down together at a desk," So, you said you were looking for some career guidance?"

"Yeah, see I'm in third-year at Seinori and I'm still trying to figure out what to do after high-school." Renge explained.

"Ok, I understand. You know, many people you're age at this time of the year are feeling quite pressured about University and College, some more than others. And, if you're still feeling unsure about what you want to major in, it's alright. Nobody's expecting you to figure out what to do with the rest of your life by the end of the school year." Ina reassured.

"Feels like it." Renge commented, while avoiding eye-contact with Ina.

"I'm sure it does unfortunately." Ina remarked with a somewhat forced laugh," So, have you applied to any Universities or College as of yet?"

"Yeah, last month I applied to the Takenaka University to study Literature." Renge answered," I've also applied at Ryukawa College for Graphic Design."

"Wow, Literature and Graphic Design, two very different courses. But they both fall under the arts umbrella." Ina remarked," You don't really strike me as a business type girl anyways."

"Really? Cuz, my glasses may say otherwise..." Renge replied with a forced chuckle.

Ina joined in on the laughter," Well, you seem like a very much out-spoken, free-spirit kind of girl. Out of the those two courses, do you have one you're leaning more towards?"

"I'll admit, I'm slightly more interested in Graphic Design." Renge confessed," But, it's always good to have a fallback choice, you know?"

"Oh of course, in fact I think it's pretty good that you have two courses that seem very passionate about." Ina stated," I get many kids telling me that it's Business or nothing or Medicine or nothing. Kids who have devoted their high-school studies to these courses without realizing what's really in store for them. So I'm glad you've at least given yourself a few options. I'm also assuming you haven't heard anything from them as of yet?"

"Well, not yet. But many people in my grade have received conditional acceptance from the University and who knows, maybe I might get my conditional acceptance sometime this week!" Renge answered in an upbeat voice.

"Ok, there's another thing I wanted to ask you. Have you thought about studying outside of the city?" Ina asked," I have had heard many times that students are originally intent on studying at the local University and then they get curious about a school the city over and all of a sudden, they're heading off to Tokyo! Not to say there's anything wrong with it, it's just always a very indecisive time for a lot of kids your age. So, I mean, I don't want to mess up any of your plans, but if you're ever curious, I have a few schools that have astounding Graphic Design and Literature or even Journalism programs I can recommend to you."

"I might have to take you up on that offer sometime next week, if it's ok to schedule another meeting." Renge responded, sounding a little timid now.

"Of course! Does next week Thursday sound alright to you?" Ina offered.

Renge nodded her head and Ina jotted it into her agenda," Well, I hope you get your conditional acceptance and hear from Ryukawa soon ok?"

Renge said goodbye to Ina and left her office, feeling quite satisfied with today's meeting.

When she got home and up to her bedroom, she found the girls, along with Renny and Topher, waiting impatiently for her.

"Where have you been?" Kanari questioned as she showed Renge the time on her phone," It's nearly five-thirty."

"A better question would be why do you people never inform me about these meetings?" Renge asked as calmly as she could," So, what's today's meeting about?"

"We need to be even more on the look-out for the book of Omnipotence, Headmistress' orders." Renny decreed,"And, maybe even the strongest Inner Scholar too..."

"Acumen? Why?" Renge asked as she sat down onto her computer chair.

"Well, at this point, who knows what else Temptation may plan to do with the book." Renny stated," If they had Acumen in their hands, they could do things much worse than destroying the book."

"What would be worse than destroying the book?" Kanari questioned curiously.

"Erasing everything inside of it, reverting Univer City into absolute nothingness." Renny explained grimly.

"And destroying the book wouldn't do that?" Chiyo chimed in suspiciously.

"Well, if they can find Acumen and make it erase what's written in the book, they may have the power to alter things written into the book." Topher pointed out.

"So that could lead to some kind of dystopia where Temptasia is a god, right?" Yugure asked.

"It could." Topher answered, his eyes downcast.

"Ok, so all we need to do is just scope some super-smart people right? It would narrow things down for us quite nicely." Renge suggested.

"Yeah, let's starting thinking of some people right now!" Kanari exclaimed," Ayano's pretty smart..."

"Wait! There's one more thing." Renny interjected," Sometimes, Acumen resides in people already have an Inner Scholar. So, it's rarely active within the owner, but when it is, the owner benefits by attaining unexpected academic success."

"So, there may be someone out there who has _two_ Inner Scholars inside of them?" Yugure asked, sounding rather amazed by this.

"It's happened before." Topher mentioned neutrally.

"Alright, we'll just have to keep an eye out for anything suspicious of the sort." Renge declared," So with being said, can we adjourn this meeting?"

"Yeah I guess so." Renny replied," But wait...where are you girls' Inner Scholars?"

The girls all pointed to inside of themselves.

"It'd probably be best if you kept them outside more often and get used to having them out in the open." Renny advised sheepishly.

"But what if someone sees them?" Chiyo asked cautiously.

"Regular humans can't see them. Only people who have their own Inner Scholars out in the open can." Renny explained.

"Ok, whatever you say." Kanari as she preformed a 'boom-snap-clap', releasing her Inner Scholar in the process.

"That's you get them out?" Renge asked as she gawked at Bertie who was taking in her surroundings curiously.

"Well, that's how I get Bertie out." Kanari shrugged," We coordinated it."

"Wow, I just say Abracadabra and Nikki appears." Yugure commented, releasing Nikki while do so," See?"

"I guess that means I better start coordinating something soon with Lia..." Renge commented with a sheepish giggle as the girls gathered their things to leave.

As the girls were getting ready to leave, Renge noticed a test paper fall out from Chiyo's bag and she said," Chiyo, you dropped this!"

Chiyo spun her head around and saw the test paper lying in Renge's hand," Oh, thank you."

"Woah, is that a hundred percent? In Science?" Topher asked incredulously as he stared at the test paper in Chiyo's hands.

"Yeah, I guess all my studying from two weeks ago paid off. I still can't believe we only got our tests back today, along with our final group projects for History..." Chiyo remarked as she put the paper back into her bag.

"And what did you get on the final project?" Renny interrogated inquisitively.

"My teacher gave me and my partner a ninety-nine point five." Chiyo said flatly, appearing to be very unimpressed with the mark," All because my partner hole-punched the written part of the project. Well, I got to get going, I'll see you later."

Renge waved good-bye, in shock of Chiyo's very high grades.

"Wow, who knew Chiyo was good at Science?" Renge said as she took out her homework from her bag beside her bed.

"I think you guys should start keeping an eye on Chiyo..." Renny suggested warily.

"Keep an eye...on...Chiyo..." Renge repeated unsurely, her eyes narrowed at Renny.

Renge then thought back to all those times where Chiyo made it clear that she was in no need of protection.

 _"You two better be leaving now, otherwise things aren't going to be pretty here." Chiyo threatened before leaving the museum._

 _"Stay out of my way!" History demanded in a venomous tone as she stood back up, getting to continue her fight with the Delinquous._

 _"Pretty Cure, Archaic Blaze!" She set fire to the Delinquous temporarily and it fell backwards defenselessly. Literature then dashed up to the Delinquous and attempted to encase it with her Assassinating Diamante attack. But to her surprise, the Delinquous didn't stay still for much longer and instead began to run after her, still on fire._

Renge's eye twitched upon remembering all those times," She's lethal, I truly don't think she needs any of our help. And why would she?"

"Well..." Renny began hesitantly," What if she possesses Acumen?"

"How could she possibly possess Acumen? Wouldn't we have noticed something by now?" Renge reasoned skeptically.

"We just did!" Renny exasperated," Her domain is History, and she gets a hundred percent on a Science test!"

"Plus, I heard it's a little more difficult for an Inner Scholar to come out when Acumen co-resides with it." Topher mentioned quietly.

"She's also the youngest of the team." Renny pointed out.

"Yes, but she's proven herself to be the most deadly of all of us on countless occasions despite that." Renge deadpanned, feeling just about ready to drop the topic," But, the fact that she scored a hundred percent on a Science test is suspicious..."

"But you know what? I'm not going to focus on that." Renge declared sternly," I've got to start studying for my exams and try to summon Lia out."

Renge tried knocking on her chest, like how she remembered Kanari did, and flinched, not expecting it to hurt that much.

"She didn't do it like that!" Topher chided Renge who stared down at her floor in frustration.

"I think it's more of a personalized kind of action..." Renny stated as he watched Renge try to think of something.

"Well, that's not gonna help." Renge remarked impatiently as she rested her head under her fist.

"Consider yourself lucky." Topher stated bluntly," Those who aren't Pretty Cure and have their Inner Scholar out have no control over summoning their Inner Scholar."

"Hey, maybe I could make an incantation like you guys did when summoning the door." Renge suggested, sounding a little excited now.

Topher and Renny didn't seem as excited as she was, however.

"Yeah, maybe a short one would work. That way you can remember it really quick." Renny recommended with caution.

Renge nodded, rubbing her hands together as she tried to think," As my journey to find myself begins, I call upon my scholar within!"

Lia then appeared before the three of them, and looked around the room, eyeing Renge's anime posters and figures.

"Nice to see you again Renge." Lia beamed after she was done looking around the room.

"You too." Renge responded before turning her attention back to Renny and Topher," So, if you really do think Chiyo might be Acumen's owner, what do you think we should do about it?"

"Make sure she doesn't hang out anyone suspicious and be sure to keep an eye on her." Renny advised," Because the last thing we want is Acumen revealing itself with anyone from Temptation around."

"Ok, I'll tell Kanari and Yugure about it tomorrow." Renge affirmed as she began to study for her exams.

The next day, Chiyo dragged herself into class, feeling extremely tired. She figured it was because she was studying really hard for her exams last night, but she also didn't get a good night's sleep. All she could remember was tossing and turning restlessly as she found herself unable to fall asleep.

When she walked over to her desk, her friend Michiru, who seemed as perky as ever, was sitting beside her.

"Good morning~" Michiru said as she looked over to Chiyo, who had just slammed her head into her desk.

" 'Morning." Chiyo mumbled incoherently, not even bothering to lift her head up from the desk," I slept terribly last night."

Michiru giggled a little at Chiyo before darting her eyes to a boy who just walked into the class," Legend has it that if you can't sleep at night, it's because someone's dreaming about you."

The boy walked over bashfully to Chiyo and Michiru, keeping his eyes down as he made his way towards the girls.

"Morning girls," The boy said quietly his chestnut blonde hair falling over his pale eyes.

"Hey Kazuya, how are you?" Michiru asked in a tone Chiyo's brain had previously registered as her flirty one. Chiyo side-eyed her as the girls waited for Kazuya to respond.

"I'm good, by the way, Chiyo, thanks for putting up with me during the project. You did really well on it and I'm sorry about hole-punching." Kazuya apologized, his voice trembling a little.

"No it's ok, it's the teacher's fault for not specifying whether it should be hole-punched or not." Chiyo dismissed with a small yawn.

"You're totally right." Kazuya agreed attentively," So um, I was thinking, if you're free on Thursday, would like to hang out with me? Grab a coffee or something?"

Chiyo then mentally checked her schedule," I have work at five. Do you want to go during club time? My club ends on Wednesday."

"Yeah, absolutely! That'd be great!" Kazuya exclaimed, sounding quite excited now," So I'll meet you after class?"

Chiyo smiled to him," Sure."

The girls, except for Chiyo, were all sitting together having lunch in Renge and Kanari's homeroom the next day.

"So...Renny thinks Chiyo is the owner of Acumen?" Kanari asked, sounding a little doubtful at the thought with her eyes narrowed. Kanari and Yugure seemed very unsure of the thought and so, Renge needed to do some further explaining.

"Well, Renny, Topher and I saw one of Chiyo's test papers when she was getting ready to leave on Monday. She scored a hundred percent and she also got a ninety-nine percent on a group project. Seem suspicious yet?" Renge inquired with an arched eyebrow.

Yugure and Kanari exchanged expressions, with Yugure saying," But...Chiyo's pretty smart so, it's not like it's unusual."

"Yeah but a perfect score on a Science test with a ninety-nine percent on a group project all in the same week?" Renge questioned.

"Maybe she just has an easy teacher..." Kanari said in dismissal with her hands folded behind her head.

Renge shook her head,"It may sound silly, but...doesn't it even seem a little strange?"

"Well, Science isn't really her strong point..." Yugure mentioned softly as she stared down at Renge's desk.

"And we haven't seen her release her Inner Scholar back out since the Caverns! Topher said that sometimes Acumen can reside in a person who already has their own Inner Scholar and he also said that having Acumen inside of them makes it more difficult for their own Inner Scholar to come out!" Renge countered, her voice get a little louder as she started listing off reasons.

"But, we don't need to keep an eye out for her." Kanari declared nonchalantly," She's lethal, she can take care of herself."

"That's what I said but..." Renge then trailed off as she began to think of Chiyo being in danger because she may actually have been the owner of Acumen.

"...I guess we can never be too careful in situations like this, huh?" Yugure finished for her," In fact, we should all be making sure Chiyo's safe. We actually should be making sure that each of one is safe."

"I agree." Renge declared firmly," Maybe we should hold a meeting tomorrow at my place to talk this over with Chiyo. Should I text her now?"

Yugure and Kanari nodded in approval and so, Renge texted Chiyo on her Aiphone which was now inside a dainty clear case decorated with flowers instead of the Mellow Kitty case.

The text read _," Hey Chiyo, we're having a meeting tomorrow to discuss some important business. Can you come over to my place after school?"_

Chiyo texted her back almost instantly, with her text reading _," Can't. I'm hanging out with someone else tomorrow."_

Renge darted her eyes from the text to the girls and told them that Chiyo had prior arrangements.

The girls all looked quite alarmed, but Yugure tried dispelling her own worries, as well as everyone else's, by saying," She's probably just hanging out with her friend Michiru."

"But...she said someone else." Renge pointed out," Like, she doesn't want us knowing who the person is..."

"Plus, typing Michiru is easier than typing someone else..." Kanari added.

"You guys might just be looking too into this..." Yugure said with an awkward giggle.

"You were the one who we can never be too careful in these situations right?" Kanari reminded her," So, are we going to find out for ourselves who she's hanging out with tomorrow?"

Hesitantly, Renge nodded and Yugure followed suit a few seconds after.

Chiyo waited outside the front doors of the school that day patiently as she waited for Kazuya. To kill time, she looked around the school's front yard, taking note of the fact that the snow seemed to be melting, which wasn't too surprising with the temperature starting to fluctuate at this time of year. The sun beating down on her so she decided to stand close to the school doors in search of shade.

"Hey Chiyo!" Chiyo heard a voice call from behind her as the door next to her swung open.

"Hi Kazuya." Chiyo said to him," So, do you know where we're going to go?"

"Just follow me." Kazuya said, sounding as if he was trying to maintain composure to hide his excitement as he led her to the school's parking lot.

From the glass on the school's front door, the girls were spying on Chiyo walking with Kazuya.

"Who is that and what is he doing with our Chiyo?" Kanari shrieked in a whisper as she pressed her face against the glass of the door.

"Ikeda Kazuya." Renge answered," And she's not ours, but...you know, I don't think I've ever seen Chiyo hang out with him before..."

"They're getting away come on!" Kanari urged as she bolted out the school doors and into the school's parking lot.

When they reached the school parking lot, they saw a car go passed them and figured it must've been Kazuya and Chiyo in that car as the pair was nowhere to be found.

"We lost them..." Yugure sighed as Renge and Kanari tried looking for them, even though they both knew it was hopeless to do so.

But little did the girls know, they were watched by a pair of middle-school girls from the top of a rather large tree in school's front yard.

"Ami, are you sure we should be doing this? What if we get in trouble?" One of the girls said to the other, being mindful of where she was holding onto in the tree.

"Hina, we're only supposed to be studying right now, but...I can't focus knowing something's going on with my brother!" The other girl, Ami, declared while looking through a pair of binoculars at the girls.

She took the binoculars away from her eyes and stared down at the group and hissed," They must know something..."

Ami leapt down from the tree while Hina crawled down from it with utmost caution. The two middle-school girls then stormed over to the girls.

"What are you doing here?" Ami shouted to the girls as she pointed a finger towards them.

Renge and the girls looked at the pair of middle-schoolers skeptically as they inched closer towards them.

Renge spoke for the group, saying," A better question would be, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?"

Hina looked down to the ground, feeling rather guilty while Ami thundered angrily," I should be asking you the same thing, freshmen!"

" I'll have you know that I am a third year." Renge fumed as glowered down to the little girl, before taking note of how much she looked like Kazuya," Wait a minute! Could you be...Kazuya's sister?"

Ami looked at her eyes wide, not expecting Renge to figure that out," Well, now that you know why I'm here I think it's only fair you girls do the same."

"We're just looking out for our friend Chiyo...she usually doesn't hang out with him..." Yugure explained to the middle-schoolers.

"Kazuya's been acting weird lately, so I thought I should just keep an eye on him..." Ami explained slowly and cautiously," Thankfully, I know just where he's going..."

"Seriously?" The three girls said in unison.

Kazuya and Chiyo arrived at a cafe near in Ozawa village called Estrella. Chiyo had heard good things about this cafe, but never went inside of it. The cafe was well lit and the floor reminded Chiyo of a chess-board. The cafe had many, many tables empty as well as booths, and all of them were red. Chiyo took in her surroundings silently while Kazuya tried to decide on where they should sit.

"Table or booth?" Kazuya asked as he turned to face Chiyo.

"A table would be fine." Chiyo answered as they walked towards the table nearest to them.

In front of them was a pair of menus set out on the table and the pair tried deciding on what to get. It appeared that their specialty was cakes, milkshakes and coffee as they all had their own section on the menu.

Soon, Renge, Kanari, Yugure and the middle-schoolers all arrived at the cafe. Renge looked at the cafe suspiciously, having been here only twice in her life. She then looked over to Ami, wondering if she and her friend had taken them to the right place.

"I see Kazuya!" Hina whispered as she peered through the glass window of the cafe.

"We gotta go in!" Ami declared, coming close to opening the door before Renge stopped her.

"No. They'll see us!" Renge declared as she pointed to the spot where Chiyo and Kazuya were sitting. The pair had decided to sit close to the front of the cafe and made it impossible for the girls to get into the cafe without being seen by them.

"So then how are we supposed to get in?" Ami barked to Renge, who looked at the front door unsurely.

"Sayaka, does that friend of yours still work at Estrella at Ozawa village?" Kanari asked into her phone," Do you know if she's working today? Well, we have some business to attend to...do you think she can let us in through the back door? You'll text her right now? Alright, thanks!"

Kanari then hung up her phone and flashed a thumbs up to the girls," I got us covered."

The girls were then sitting at a table after Sayaka's friend let them in. They sat there rather tensely with their menus standing up around their table so that their faces wouldn't be seen. Unfortunately, they were only about two other groups in the cafe, not including Chiyo and Kazuya, so it was only a matter of time before the pair would begin to catch on. The girls continued to stare at Chiyo and Kazuya between a little hole in between their menu fort, watching the pair's every move. The girls were also rather quiet now, considering each of the middle-schoolers and Pretty Cure had grown very suspicious of Chiyo and Kazuya respectively.

Unbeknownst to them, the waitresses were growing quite impatient with the girls and were disgusted by how their menus were being used, so one of the waitresses decided to walk up quietly towards the girls, knowing she wouldn't get their attention until she said,

"Have you girls decided on what you're having today?"

The waitress startled the girls and the menu fort had fallen down, exposing the group and finally getting Chiyo's attention.

After the group decided on what to order, Chiyo marched over to them and asked them," Just what do you think you're doing here?"

"I think we're getting a late lunch..." Kanari said with her eyes adverting Chiyo's glare as she held the dessert menu up to her face.

"Chiyo, why didn't you want to tell us you were hanging out with Kazuya?" Renge questioned.

"Why do need to know about my whereabouts?" Chiyo snapped, sounding very unimpressed with Renge's question.

"And what did you to do my brother?" Ami interrogated as she glared at Chiyo. Everyone at the table looked at her in question once she asked that.

"What are you talking about?" Chiyo asked her in suspicion.

"Every since...ok I'm not entirely sure on since when but he's been acting really, really weird lately and something tells me you had something to do with it!" Ami shouted.

"Really weird...like a crush?" Yugure asked as she stirred the ice-cubes in her glass of water with her straw.

"No, worse than that." Ami responded darkly," He's been acting less like a normal person and more like a...a..."

"Leech? Or a parasite?" Hina suggested.

"I don't know!" Ami exasperated in frustration as she held her head in her hands.

Chiyo took a long look at Ami before going back to her table and said nothing before she left.

"They're quite a long time with our meal, don't you think?" Kazuya asked Chiyo once she returned to the table.

Chiyo looked at him blankly, having almost forgotten about the meal after dealing with the girls," Um, I guess..."

"Wanna come with me to check and see what's going on?" Kazuya asked as he pointed to the kitchen. Chiyo looked over to the kitchen and then looked at the girls, who didn't dare make eye contact with her after that scene. Chiyo nodded and the two then walked over to the front of the kitchen.

"So, the Pretty Cure have returned from their little trip to Univer haven't they?" Temptasia asked Jika, Rishi, and Vice in her throne room. Vice stood in front of Jika and Rishi and nodded attentively. Jika seemed abnormally nervous at the thought of Pretty Cure of returning as she was hoping this entire time that they would meet their demise at Univer Kingdom. Rishi was too busy glaring holes into Vice, remembering his one-sided conversation with him from earlier.

 _"So, I have a very good feeling that Temptasia has no clue about the Delinquous' purification..." Rishi declared coolly to Vice, not expecting any feedback in return," I think the best thing for us to do right now-"_

 _Just then, Rishi heard a loud stomp come from behind him. He spun around and saw a new Delinquous that appeared identical to that last one that looked like a rocket-ship beacon hybrid, but this one seemed...stronger for some reason._

 _"-Make another one..." Rishi finished as he stared at the Delinquous speechlessly._

"So, if the Pretty Cure think they've gotten strong enough to defeat us, let's remind them of who they're dealing with." Temptasia said as she conjured up a small chrome looking sphere that resembled a piece of paper crumbled into a ball.

"This will create a much stronger Delinquous, a Mega-Delinquous..." Temptasia explained as the levitating sphere twirled around.

"How original..." Rishi muttered in a deadpan tone.

"Every time a Mega-Delinquous is formed, it's gains power from previous Delinquous' that have been purified before it, so now, it's actually better if your Delinquouses get purified." Temptasia stated.

"How does that work?" Jika asked in concern as she watched the peculiar sphere float above Temptasia's hand.

"It's hexed to do to this." Temptasia debriefed as she shut her hand into a fist, causing the sphere to vanish," But, to activate you need to say run amok Delinquous!"

Jika nodded her head rapidly, as did the boys and then Jika asked," So, who's going today?"

"You haven't noticed it yet?" Rishi asked her, with a half-smirk on his face.

"Um, Kazuya, I don't think we're allowed to go into this part of the cafe. We're literally in the kitchen now." Chiyo declared, sounding quite worried as she tugged on Kazuya's arm.

"But, Chiyo...I wanted to get some alone time with you." Kazuya declared as he stopped walking further into the kitchen, his back facing Chiyo.

Chiyo narrowed her eyes, feeling rather skeptic about this and asked nervously," Really?"

Just then, Kazuya began to shape shift and take on a very strange form and he began to look more like a blob of rather jelly rather than a human. Chiyo backed away from him cautiously and went to the door, trying to open it but with no avail.

"Absolutely!" Kazuya shouted maniacally.

"Run amok, Delinquous!" A voice could be heard shouting from the other side of the kitchen. Chiyo looked in the direction where the voice came from and found Zephora sitting on top of a counter in the corner.

Kazuya then turned into a Delinquous and Chiyo screamed as she tried to open the door and retrieve her pen from inside her pocket simultaneously.

The girls heard the scream from inside the kitchen and ran towards the door, seeing Chiyo transformed and trying to fight off the Delinquous on her own.

"When did that get there?" Kanari asked as she looked into the door's glass window. Waitresses were crowding around the door that led to the kitchen with the girls and the rest of the customers were getting curious to see what was going on.

"How are we supposed to get in there?" Yugure asked Renge asked the waitresses tried opening the door.

Renge looked around the cafe, taking note of how everyone inside had now gathered around the door to see what was happening in the kitchen. She then looked into the window of the kitchen again, and then remembered there another way into the kitchen. Renge then motioned Kanari and Yugure to follow her.

History looked at the Delinquous before her, the clear jelly being was simply staring her down it awaited her next move. Her back was against the wall now and she then looked at Zephora.

"Where's the real Kazuya?!" She shouted viciously to Zephora.

"He's elsewhere..." Zephora answered, her mouth lifting into a little half-grin after saying that. Inside the storage room of the cafe Kazuya was handcuffs around a pipe in the room.

History glared at the Delinquous and ran over to it, driving a kick into and leaping backwards, landing on top of a counter.

"If only I could get Juli out..." History sighed to herself as she tried to think of what to do until the other Pretty Cure came. She looked around the room and tried to figure out what she was able to do in such a cramped space as using her attacks was out of the question. Though worrying about trying to throw a punch and winding up making a giant mess should've been the least of her worries right now, she would've rather been safe than sorry in such a pristine kitchen. She looked down and smiled a small smile, noticing that the floor in the kitchen was checkered just like the inside of the cafe.

She then decided to fight the Delinquous and try to move around as little as possible. History threw numerous punches towards the Delinquous but all it would was retract and try to fling one of it's appendages towards her. She jumped backwards and avoided getting hit but once landed one her feet, she found the Delinquous was nowhere to be seen. She then looked towards the ground and noticed that the Delinquous had formed into a puddle beneath her feet and before she could say anything, the Delinquous encased her within itself.

Just then, Literature kicked down the back door that led to the kitchen and the girls found History absorbed into the jelly Delinquous.

"Gross..." Arithmetic commented as the group watched History try and escape from the inside of the Delinquous.

"You! Invading a date between two innocent people is the lowest of the low and we won't allow it!" Literature proclaimed as she pointed to Zephora, who laughed madly upon hearing that.

"A date between innocent people?" Zephora repeated hysterically," This thing _is_ her date!"

"You mean...that Delinquous was made from Kazuya?" Literature asked as she watched History struggle within the jelly Delinquous.

"I think she means that the Delinquous _is_ Kazuya or rather, was pretending to be Kazuya..." Science explained.

History had enough of this, but she wasn't sure of what else she could do. After trying to rip free from the inside of this Delinquous with no avail she wasn't sure of what left she could do. Her eyes then open very wide in realization and then she held her hands out in opposite directions.

"Pretty Cure, Archaic Blaze!" She shouted, burning the Delinquous' insides as she broke free and jumped onto one of the hanging lamps on the ceiling.

"I should've known..." History said, holding back a cynical laugh as she jumped in front of the Delinquous and blazed it away from her.

"History!" Science whispered to her. History spun her head around and pointed to the walk-in freezer inside of the kitchen. History nodded and led the Delinquous towards the freezer.

The Pretty Cure were now all inside of the freezer with the Delinquous and began to take turns fighting one on one with it.

First the Delinquous was thrown to History who landed several punches on the jelly Delinquous and momentarily questioned why the Delinquous wasn't squirming and retracting away as quickly as before. Then she realized what was happening to the Delinquous. While she was shivering immensely in the walk-in freezer, the Delinquous was slowly solidifying. History then passed the Delinquous to Literature who eventually passed it onto to Science then Arithmetic.

The Delinquous swung swiftly towards Arithmetic and she ducked while holding her hands out in front of herself saying," Pretty Cure, Quadratic Termination!"

But, the attack simply dissipated upon contact with the Delinquous, as if it did no damage to it at all. The Delinquous then swung at Arithmetic again, who was caught off-guard as she was still surprised about how powerless her attack was against the Delinquous.

"Get out of the way!" History shouted, pushing Arithmetic to the side. The Delinquous was about to hit the two of them when Literature kicked it out of the freezer with Science holding the door open.

The girls then rushed out of the freezer and found the Delinquous waiting for them in front of the counter.

History dashed towards it and began to spar with it. She threw a kick in it's direction and sent to the other side of the kitchen, but within in instant, it came rushing back to her. She noticed soon though that the longer she fought with the Delinquous, it got quicker rather than tire out. She tried hard to keep up with it, unrelenting and matched it's speed for a little while, throwing what felt like a thousand punches and kicks per second. Her lungs were beginning to burn but she refused to give in but was grabbed by her wrist and flung towards the locked doors of the kitchen.

Her knees were shaking as she tried getting up and then she saw Science and Arithmetic fighting for her. History double-blinked in confusion and Literature came to her side.

Literature had a stern look on her face, offering her hand to History and chided her saying,"No matter what, we're a team and we have to fight like one, ok?"

History took her hand and said," You're right. I'm sorry about that."

The two Cures went to be of aid to the rest of the team fighting the Delinquous.

Fighting the Delinquous was now a little bit easier now that they were more unified as a team ever since their training. But, even then, the girls all came to notice that something about this Delinquous was different from the ones they had fought in the past, as it showed no signs of a decrease in energy, not even a little. But, all these attacks were slowly exhausting the girls and Literature was thrown into History after missing a punch.

The Cures arose to their feet rather quickly and History threw the Delinquous that was rushing towards her to Zephora and shouted,  
"I'm not going to ask you again, where's Kazuya?"

"Why should it concern you?" Zephora asked while sounding a bit agitated," It's not like he'll be thankful that you saved him, if you do. He'll continue to live in absolute disregard of you as usual, like the rest of the people you girls save. Which honestly makes me wonder..."

Science shrieked as the Delinquous threw her against the fridge, with History coming to her aid while the Delinquous began to fight with Literature and Arithmetic.

"Why do you girls even feel the need to save ungrateful, wretched human beings who deserve to rot from the inside out for being nothing but faint-hearted fools who have forsaken themselves?" Zephora finished in an unnerved voice.

"These people who have lost hope aren't fools!" Literature shouted angrily as she tossed the Delinquous against the door to the walk-in freezer," And they haven't forsaken themselves, I know for a fact that none of them ever let that happen because if they did, you wouldn't be able to even take their Inner Scholars. They would no longer be there anymore if that had happened. And they may lose hope but we won't stop at nothing until they find it again."

The Delinquous was rushing towards Literature, who was now glowing a faint pink from head-to-toe but before she could even try to deflect the Delinquous' attack, History had come up in front of her and blocked the attack for her.

"You might be right about Kazuya living in complete disregard of me after this, despite all I'm doing to save him...but I'm not doing this to receive his praise!" History shouted as she pushed the Delinquous to the other side of the kitchen," I'm doing it because it's my duty as a Pretty Cure to save everyone from corruption! And I won't ever let you let a finger on one of my own classmates ever again!"

History then glowed a faint yellow from head-to-toe as well and looked down at herself.

"What's happening to us?" History asked as she backed up near to Literature.

"As my journey to find myself begins, I call upon my scholar within!" Literature said quickly to summon out Lia," Lia what's going-?"

"You two need to summon your talismans!" Lia instructed hastily.

Literature and History nodded and the former called out," Appear! Ardent Scepter!"

"Show yourself! Everlasting Scepter!" History called upon.

The girls held the scepters in their hands and out of instinct, History shouted out," Shape shift! Everlasting Staff!"

Her scepter then turned into a long, white and slender staff with yellow and gold gem-stones adorning it. She stared at it speechlessly for a few moments and then turned her attention to the Delinquous and direction her staff in it's direction shouting,

"Pretty Cure, Storming Legend!"

A thunderstorm then came crashing down onto the Delinquous and it was dumb-founded by the attack, though storm appeared to be fading away quite quickly, so then Literature let her instincts take over as she shut her eyes and her her scepter firmly.

"Shape shift! Ardent Striker!" The once-red scepter turned into a pale red bow and arrow with ruby decorating it greatly. She looked down at the bow and arrow nervously, having only done archery a few times in her life. She then dispelled her worries by shaking her head and drew the arrow back while yelling,

"Pretty Cure, Typhoon of Passion!"

The arrow was launched at an immeasurable speed and was conjuring up a tornado as the arrow made it's way to the Delinquous. The Delinquous was instantly caught within the tornado upon contact and was flailing around helplessly within it.

The Cures looked at the tornado in shock, being surprised that it was able to throw the Delinquous around with such ease. They all then proceeded to give Literature the same shocked look.

"Well, it is a tornado..." Literature said sheepishly with a shrug.

The tornado disappeared and the Delinquous was left on the ground, rendered immobile and defeated. History then leapt towards the Delinquous, her staff had now reverted back into a scepter and she looked down at it seeming mildly unimpressed as she came close to the fallen beast.

"Time to wrap things up." History declared as she she tossed the scepter in the air and held it up high.

"Pretty Cure, Immortal Chronicle!" History shouted, creating a void of yellow and gold that only she and the Delinquous were inside. There were hourglasses all around and History stood before the Delinquous, chanting,

"Once time has past this shall just a memory and by then, my friend..." History began, twirling the scepter around while she spoke,"...you will be history!"

The Delinquous was lifted into the void and thrown into an hourglass, where it was to be purified.

Once it was purified, History said with a wink," A plus!"

Zephora then left immediately and the girls went searching for Kazuya in the kitchen.

Soon, they found Kazuya in the store room and Kazuya seemed rather confused as if he had no memory of what had happened the last few days.

"I'm not sure how long I was there, and the last thing I remember was just walking home from school." Kazuya explained," Is it really Thursday?"

Chiyo nodded and Kazuya just looked at her in surprise," I hope I didn't worry my parents and sister or anything..."

"I think they'll be fine." Chiyo said briefly as she stood up from Kazuya's side, getting ready to leave.

"Wait Chiyo!" Kazuya shouted," I wanted to say thanks for you know, working so hard on the project. I'm sorry if I didn't do a lot of it, but I'm glad you managed to get a good mark despite how little I did. And it was fun working with you!"

That took Chiyo by surprise," Was it?"

"Yeah, I dunno. I didn't expect it to be but yeah, I enjoyed working with you." Kazuya said," At first, I thought you would just flat out ignore me, like you did to most people in our homeroom during the beginning of the year, but I guess I just misjudged you..." Kazuya said with an awkward chuckle.

"Maybe..." Chiyo giggled back," _Or I've just outgrown being cold._ "

Later on, Chiyo and the group was assembled in Renge's room, with Chiyo standing before Renny.

"So, you thought it was ok for the girls to spy on me because you thought I was hosting something I couldn't control on my own?" Chiyo asked with seething rage.

"I'm not saying it's only you who couldn't control it!" Renny cried in defense," Not many who possess Acumen can anyways!"

"Well, I'm flattered that you think I'm the owner of Acumen but...I'm pretty sure I'm not." Chiyo declared candidly with a shrug.

"Why not?" Topher asked.

Chiyo shrugged and Renny declared," Well, the only one who would know is your Inner Scholar itself!"

The group looked at Chiyo expectantly who broke under the pressure quickly by confessing," I don't know how to get him out!"

"You don't?" Renge asked, sounding rather surprised.

"I tried everything, but nothing seemed to work!" Chiyo exasperated.

The Cures then talked amongst themselves as they tried thinking of a way to get Juli out of Chiyo. As they did this, Topher whispered something into Chiyo's ear.

"Open Sesame?" Chiyo repeated incredulously," I'm not gonna-"

Juli then appeared, stretching his arms out as if he had taken a very long nap.

"Are you kidding me." Was all Chiyo could say.

"Juli? We need to ask you something." Yugure said to Juli, who seemed rather relaxed right now.

"Hm? What is it?" Juli asked calmly with a yawn.

"Does Chiyo...have Acumen inside of her?" Renny asked him anxiously.

Juli double-blinked slowly and responded even slower," No she doesn't."

Everyone took a deep breath of relief and Chiyo yelled to them," See I told you!"

The girls giggled and Chiyo simply glared at them, though, knowing that she had friends who wanted nothing more than her to be safe did put her at ease.


	23. Ando wants a dog?

Kanari stood by herself in the downtown square on Saturday morning, feeling tremendously tired after only having about five hours of sleep when she typically needed eight. Normally, waking up early on weekdays was no issue for her, but weekends was another story. She stood in front of a dress store and waited anxiously, taking her phone out from her pocket as she did so. She looked down at the text she received yesterday afternoon, still feeling a little skeptic while reading it over for the umpteenth time today.

The text read," Hey Kanari, I was wondering if you had picked out a prom dress yet. If not, you're free to come with me and Akemi as well as a few others girls who haven't got their dresses at ten tomorrow morning at Shiromiya Dresses.- Miki"

Kanari responded to her, saying she would come but, the longer she waited, the more she began to question whether or not Miki was actually coming. But, Kanari hadn't never known Miki to be cruel enough to offer a chance to hang out and not show up to spite her. Then again...

"Kanari!" Miki shouted as she came into view, waving her hand. Kanari looked over and saw Miki running towards her, placing her hands on her knees to catch her breath once she came close enough to Kanari," Glad you could make it."

Kanari nodded and then asked Miki," Where are Akemi and the other girls?"

"I kinda made up that part about Akemi and the other girls coming along because I had a feeling you wouldn't want to come with just me..." Miki explained in an unusually bashful tone with head down.

Kanari rolled her eyes and took Miki by the hand as she opened the door to Shiromiya Dresses," To be honest, I like it better this way."

Miki giggled and the two stared at the thousands of colourful dresses within the store before them. There were many, many different kinds of dresses. Extravagant, frilly and poofy ones, sleek ones decorated with many jewels, and many bridal gowns as well. They all caught Kanari's eyes and they all amazed her in their own little way. Miki walked down the aisles of dresses closest to them and inspected them, trying to figure out which one would suit Kanari best.

"How does this one look?" Kanari asked Miki as she held a dress out in front of herself. The dress was short and black, and greatly resembled a tuxedo.

Miki double-blinked, very unsure of what to say as Kanari held the dress up to her.

"If you want to, sure." Miki eventually replied. Kanari then picked the tuxedo dress from the rack and the owner of the store walked up to them and greeted them kindly.

"Are you ladies looking for prom dresses?" She asked the girls.

"Actually, we're looking just for my friend over here." Miki corrected as she pointed to Kanari.

The woman examined Kanari thoroughly from head-to-toe, observing her complexion, size and skin tone. She then directed Kanari to the change-room and told her to wait there while she picked out a few dresses for her.

"Well, now we don't have to look through all the aisles for my prom dress." Kanari stated with a shrug as the woman walked through the aisles, picking out dresses she considered suitable for Kanari.

"I hope we can find you a dress today!" Miki beamed as she waited patiently for the woman to come back.

When the woman returned, she had four dresses in hand, two of them blue, one of them green and the other yellow. They were all very long and felt silky smooth in Kanari's hands when she was directed into the change room to try on the dresses.

"I'm trying the tuxedo dress on first!" Kanari called out from inside the change room.

When she emerged from the change room, she had the tuxedo dress that came to her knees on her. It was black and sparkly and the skirt of the dress had a lot of taffeta. It felt kinda like a Halloween costume, but the material was too high-quality to be simply worn as a costume.

After looking at Kanari at a loss of words, Miki broke out into light-hearted laughter after looking at the blonde for so long while saying," It looks good."

"Now try on the others." The woman dictated.

Kanari then tried on the pale cream yellow dress next. It was very, very long and was also strapless. There were quite a few jewels on the bodice with some trailing down onto the skirt. It was indeed a pretty dress, but Kanari felt out of place in it, especially with the bodice falling down on her.

"Alright! Next dress!" Kanari declared in embarrassment as she ran into the change room.

The next dress, the purple one, was rather nice being in rich in colour as well as rich in quality, causing it to be out of Kanari's budget. And then the first blue one Kanari tried on was a good fit, with spaghetti straps and a placement of gems near the side of the waist, but both Kanari and Miki felt as if it was missing something.

"It doesn't have that...wow factor going for it, you know?" Kanari expressed as she looked at herself in the mirror. She saw Miki nodding in agreement in the mirror.

"I was thinking the same thing, but I wasn't going to say it..." Miki admitted sheepishly," Well, you have one more left!"

Kanari went back into the change room to try on the final dress. When she stepped out of the change room with the second blue dress on, Miki put her hands over her mouth in astonishment. The bright ice blue dress was adorned with blue gems on the bodice and the waist, with slits at the side to make it resemble a two-piece. The dress was also neck-high and had a open back style to it.

"I think that dress looks perfect on you." Miki confessed as she slowly drew her hands away from her mouth.

"So, you think I should say yes to the dress?" Kanari smirked as she looked down at the dress, impressed with what she saw.

Miki nodded and Kanari looked over to the woman and said," I think I'll take this one."

The woman then proceeded to take Kanari's measurements and told her she would order the dress in her size.

Once Kanari's paid for the down payment of the dress, the woman told her it would take roughly three months for the dress to come and that the dress looked lovely on her.

Miki and Kanari exited the store, trying to navigate their way to the bus stop. Miki seemed quite cheerful and while it had been nice to spend some time with her old best friend, something still seemed off.

As Miki walked to the bus stop, ignorant of Kanari's suspicions, Kanari stopped walking and eventually said," I don't get it."

Miki turned around and noticed the stern look on Kanari's face, figuring by now it was best to explain herself," I did some thinking over Winter break. And, without the student council work boggling me down, I started looking back on some of my actions. I know, this may not have been much but...the truth is I want to bury the hatchet. I know I acted quite harsh towards you, and that was uncalled for. So, yeah. That's why I wanted to hang out with you, because, I really missed you."

Kanari's expression softened as she looked towards Miki, who genuinely did seem regretful in her actions.

"Well, better late then never." Kanari eventually responded as the two got to the bus stop,with the bus already there" So, are you excited for second semester?"

"A little." Miki answered as the two got on the bus," Being on student council, you barely realize a new semester has come as student council is an all year thing. But it's nice to know the harder part of the year is over. This semester, I only have easy classes and an afternoon spare."

"With an easier semester, it'll probably mean most of us will start spending time realizing that high-school's almost over." Kanari remarked with a near bitter chuckle," So, which University are you going to? Kobayashi?"

"Actually, I'm going to Takenaka!" Miki answered cheerfully," I'm going to major in Psychology. And you?"

"I'm studying Law at Takenaka..." Kanari answered, holding back a smile upon hearing what Miki had to say.

"Seriously? That's great! I honestly can not wait for Uni, there's going to be so many people from Seinori going with us, it may even feel a bit like high-school!" Miki claimed in a jubilant tone.

Kanari laughed a little and shrugged in response. The girls then engaged in some small talk before Miki got off the bus and soon, Kanari got off the bus too.

Kanari yawned as she reached for her keys in her bag, thinking about the newly-made plans for lunch next week she had with Miki. It was rather exciting, but as Kanari opened the door, her train of though crashed having walked in on some sort of dispute between her mom and brother.

"Please please please please mommmmm!" Ando begged on his knees, looking up to his mom with a hopeful look in his violet eyes.

"You know it's a big responsibility." Mitsuko warned," That means you need to feed it, give him lots and lots of attention and it has to be a unanimous vote if we get you a dog."

"What's unanimous?" Ando asked.

"It has to be something we completely agree on." Kanari chimed in as she walked into the living room.

"Well, mom, are you going to be ok with a dog?" Ando asked expectantly as he turned his gaze back onto Mitsuko.

"I would be fine, I'm not sure if you're father will be ok with it, but we'll wait and find out when he gets home." Mitsuko declared sternly.

"Then that only leaves..." Ando trailed off as he looked up to Kanari," Kana! Can we get a dog? Pretty please?"

"Um..." Kanari trailed off uncertainly.

"Really? Ando wants a dog?" Renge asked into the phone, sitting on her bed cross-legged with only her and Hikaru at home with Lia floating beside her.

"Yeah, I don't if mom's going to actually go through with it though, plus I can't even think of any adoption centers in town..." Kanari noted," I feel like I should've seen this coming though, as Ando has always been a little too friendly with any dog he's come in contact with since, ever. Has Hikaru ever wanted a dog?"

"Not really, Hikaru's actually more of a cat person..." Renge confessed sheepishly as she thought back to a time three years ago when a twelve year old Hikaru saw a cat in the back yard.

 _"Renge, look a cat! Let's take him inside!" Hikaru shouted as he pointed to a black, ginger, and white cat in the back yard through the kitchen window._

 _"Huh?" Renge would say as she looked through the window with him._

 _"Renge look a cat! Let's take him inside!" Present day Hikaru had said last week as he pointed to a grey little kitten in their back yard through the kitchen window._

 _"Absolutely not!" Renge shouted back._

"Plus, our family never really took into pets. But I know my mom said she had a dog when she was a little girl." Renge mentioned," Other than that, it's never really come up in my household. But hey, maybe Chiyo or Yugure might know of somewhere for Ando to adopt a dog at."

"Good idea, I'll call Yugure right now. Talk to you later" Kanari responded.

"See ya." Renge said into the phone as she hung up," In the meantime, I guess I should be calling up Ayano and Chiyo now huh?"

Renge looked towards Renny and Topher who were sitting stop of her computer desk, with a pages of notes regarding who the owner of Acumen may've been. Currently, their suspicions were targeted at Ayano, who Renge declared had perfect grades ever since the beginning of high-school, as well as being one of the best dancers in dance club.

"Shall we go over the plan again?" Topher questioned as he looked up towards Renge.

Renge put her hand in front of herself to decline," No need. Tomorrow, me and Chiyo have lunch with Ayano, see if she could really be the owner of Acumen and then..."

Renny looked over to her and held out a red, blue, yellow and purple watch before her," If you press the button here, it should be able to detect if Acumen is inside of her."

"How?" Renge asked as she took the watch and held in it doubt.

"It won't be able to identify Acumen as it's powers would be too great for the watch to register it." Renny explained.

"Good to know." Renge replied as she put the watch on her right hand, looking down to it curiously while wondering what else it could do.

"Any adoption centers?" Yugure repeated into the phone," Yeah, there actually a few in town, but there all really close to the outskirts of the city. But I know of one that's close to where I live, if you want, you and Ando can come tomorrow with me. I have to go there anyways as the vet's next door and Xander's been acting weird lately."

"Alright, so I guess that means I'll see you tomorrow at say...eleven?" Kanari asked.

"It's a date." Yugure answered as she circled the day on her calendar.

"By the way, Yugure..." Kanari began," Next time, when Temptation shows up, we have to activate our scepters! No question about it!"  
Yugure giggled and responded," Absolutely, we can't leave it saving the day to Renge and Chiyo!"

"Exactly! So I'll see you tomorrow." Kanari replied.

"Later."

The Headmistress sat at her father's bedside, the old man had just woken up. She looked around the room while her father sat up straight silently. Sunlight poured out from the balcony, it was just about late afternoon and only now her father had been awoken. Once he found out what time it was, he wouldn't let the Headmistress hear the end of it, as he hated sleeping for longer than intended.

"Atarah, why didn't you wake me sooner?" The old king barked after he looked at the clock on his night-stand.

"You had a terrible fever yesterday remember?" The Headmistress reminded him in a concerned voice," I thought it'd be best if you got some rest. How are you feeling now?"

"Better thank you." The old king responded with a slight cough," The Pretty Cure...they came a few days ago right?"

"Yes. They came to train, and they found the talisman at the Tsundoku Caverns." The Headmistress answered," I'm sorry you didn't get to meet them, they're very nice girls."

"Have they found Ayuki yet?" The old king asked expectantly all of a sudden," And did they find Ju-?"

"No, they have yet to be found. But, they will be." The Headmistress declared sternly as she stood up and walked close to the balcony," But, it's going to be me who shall find them, not the Pretty Cure."

"How about the book? Have they recovered it yet?" The old king asked her suspiciously.

"Dad, if they found the book, do you we still be facing all these negative effects with the book's disappearance?" The Headmistress asked in a near harsh tone," Nichibotsushima is nearly gone and it won't be long until..."

The old king then got up from his bed and walked over to the Headmistress, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"I may not have met the Pretty Cure as of yet, but if they've come this far, then I can assure you they'll find the book." The old king beamed.

The Headmistress nodded and left her father's bedroom and went to the throne room.

On her way to the throne room, one of the nobles stopped her and held out a handful of very old-looking pages in his hands.

"Headmistress, the documents you asked for." The noble said as he led her to her desk while presenting the pages to her. The Headmistress sat down and set all the pages down carefully before reading them.

"Thank you." The Headmistress said to him.

"This woman, Cure Wisdom...do you really think she still exists?" The noble asked as the Headmistress picked up a page with a drawing of a girl wearing a very intricate, short dress with wings sprouting from her back.

"I don't even know if she ever existed in the first place." The Headmistress retorted with a sigh," We always hear tales about her passed on from generation to generation. But, no one really knows if she's fictional or not. And every time I see a picture of her, it's always different from the one I saw of her last! Which reinforces the fact that she may just be a myth but..."

The Headmistress looked down to Cure Wisdom's bright, radiant smile.

"The smile always stays the same and you simply couldn't draw such an expression without having a subject to draw it from..." The Headmistress declared as she straightened up the pile of papers. The noble left her after she motioned him to do so and she simply stared down at the pile of documents she sent the noble to get for her.

It was likely a difficult task for him to gather all these papers as there were very limited documents about Cure Wisdom. He couldn't even manage retrieving a small book about Cure Wisdom because, well, there weren't any. Just very old posters that dated from centuries ago.

 _"But, why the sudden interest in Cure Wisdom?" The noble asked The Headmistress when she requested he bring the documents._

 _"I feel like she may have something to do with this, but...I don't know what." The Headmistress answered._

"Could she really have anything to do with this?" The Headmistress asked herself quietly as she held up one of the posters, yellowed and crumbling away with age.

The next day, Yugure arrived at the adoption center at precisely ten forty-five. She had Xander inside a tiny cage, with the brown spotted little guy crawling about. She thought about go to the vet while Kanari and Ando were getting here, but she didn't want to risk not being able to find the two siblings if they arrived at the adoption center early while she was dropping Xander off at the vet.

She then looked at Xander inside of his cage, he seemed quite clueless as to what was going on. It would've been better to drop him off now than waste another second. She then looked outside through the glass window for Kanari and Ando, with neither of them being in sight. Then she looked down at Xander anxiously. She kept switching her gaze from the door to Xander for about three minutes straight before she noticed Kanari and Ando standing before her.

"Oh, hey guys!" Yugure greeted, sounding a little nervous as she clutched onto Xander's cage," Listen, I need to drop Xander off at the vet so I'll be back in a min-"

"-We'll come with you!" Ando offered, sounding quite eager at the thought to see veterinarian office.

Yugure gave him a smile, seeming only a little confused while responding," You will? Alright then."

The three of them then walked into office of the vet and approached the woman at the desk.

"Excuse me? My gecko hasn't been eating for a few days and I'm not sure why. Could the vet take a look at him for me?" Yugure asked the woman.

"Of course, can I have your name please?" The woman asked, taking a brief glance at Xander.

"Hoshina Yugure, also would it be alright if you could keep an eye on him? I'm going to help my friend's little brother pick out a pet at the adoption center next door." Yugure requested, with the woman nodding her head, now talking to another concerned pet owner.

"Now let's go get me a dog!" Ando proclaimed, with Yugure suddenly turning as white as a sheet.

"A...a dog?"

Renge, Chiyo and Ayano sat inside of a frozen yogurt parlour, with an awkward silence settling in between Chiyo and Ayano as Renge was deciding on what toppings to pick. Chiyo looked down at her bowl of frozen yogurt tensely, staring down at her plain dish that had no toppings except for cherries inside. Keeping her head down, she looked at Ayano's bowl, which was filled to the brim and drizzled with chocolate syrup.

"So, what flavour did you get?" Ayano then asked Chiyo abruptly as she stirred her spoon in her cup.

"Me? Um, I just got Raspberry..." Chiyo answered stiffly," What about you?"

"I got cookies and cream..." Ayano replied as she took a spoonful of her yogurt and ate it.

Renge came back to the table shortly after to Chiyo's relief and had a multi-flavoured bowl of yogurt drizzled in peanut butter sauce with her.

"Ugh, what is all that?" Chiyo asked in disgust as she and Ayano looked down at Renge's dish.

"A mixture of cotton candy, coconut, chocolate peanut butter, cake batter and cookies and cream." Renge listed off in a oddly brash manner as she stared down at the bowl, looking quite satisfied.

Renge then sat down, taking a spoonful from her dish and popping it into her mouth after saying," Exams this year weren't at as bad as I thought it would be. Would you guys agree?"

Ayano commented," Actually, I found them quite easy too. I also heard that a few people got really high marks from the Lit exam. Can you believe that? It's strange because that was the one exam my teacher kept prepping our class for."

"That's probably because a bunch of kids failed that exam last year. Not like it's fault though, I heard it was really hard." Renge remarked," And then this year, it's the exact opposite. Or maybe we were just well-prepared. Junpei told me he got a ninety percent."  
"Junpei got a ninety? That's amazing!" Ayano exclaimed likely feeling as proud of Junpei as Renge did," So what did you get?"

"A ninety-two." Renge gloated, with a large grin on her face," And you?"

"A ninety-seven." Ayano responded neutrally as she stirred her frozen yogurt again.

Chiyo and Renge exchanged expressions, both of them seeming quite surprised, even Renge was caught off-guard despite knowing Ayano for years now.

Ayano stirred her yogurt in ignorance of the girls' stare, at least it seemed like ignorance to the girls. She basically just adverted eye-contact with them, as if she had just said something she shouldn't have.

Chiyo nudged Renge to use the watch and carefully positioned it in front of Ayano while urging Chiyo to begin the conversation again to distract Ayano.

"So, um! Ayano, what University were planning on going to? Takenaka or Kobayashi?" Chiyo sputtered awkwardly as she tried to bring Ayano's attention to herself.

"Actually, I've been thinking about going somewhere out of the city..." Ayano answered in an unsure tone while Renge clicked the button on the device.

On the screen of the watch, a little picture showed up in the place of the message that she was expecting. She saw a small Inner Scholar, jumping up and down with a bar beside it that was labeled 'healthy'. So Renge craftily took a picture of it on her phone under the table and closed the watch. Chiyo then looked towards her expectedly while Ayano began to respond to a text she had just received. Renge then showed Chiyo the picture on her phone, with Chiyo narrowing her eyes at it, seeming just as confused as Renge.

"I need to get going soon, my mom some relatives coming over this afternoon and apparently I have to help her cook dinner." Ayano said with a large sigh.

"Oh, of course! I guess we'll see you on Monday?" Renge said as Ayano stood up from her chair. Ayano nodded and waved the girls goodbye, with her bowl of yogurt in her other hand.

Once Ayano was out of earshot and out of the parlour, Renge brought her phone back out and laid it on top of the table. The two of them stared at the screen suspiciously and finally decided that Ayano was clearly not their person with the screen looking like this.

"So I guess that means she's normal." Chiyo sighed as she poked her yogurt uninterestedly with her spoon.

"Within reason." Renge commented with a little smirk," But in any case, we need to show this to Renny and Topher. So, to my house?"

"Let's go." Chiyo declared as she took out her car keys from her purse.

When Kanari, Yugure and Ando entered the adoption center, they saw many, many kids around Ando's age looking at all different kinds of dogs, cats, birds and even fish. Yugure took an apprehensive glimpse at the dogs and immediately turned her head into the opposite direction, when the entrance to the fish resided.

"I didn't know you could adopt a fish." Kanari remarked with her hands behind her head as she walked along.

"They have a very limited amount of fish here. Some of them were just abandoned for unknown reasons." Yugure explained.

Kanari looked at the fish entrance in disbelief, "So what, they couldn't just wait they di-?"

"Kanari! Some of the fish are rare. But not rare enough to be exhibited and that's why the adoption center took them in." Yugure explained again before Ando unexpected clutched onto Yugure's wrist while pointing to the dogs.

"There are the dogs! Over there!" Ando exclaimed gleefully as he dragged Yugure along, the violet-haired girl now internally screaming.

"Have fun..." Kanari said with a yawn as she took a seat on a nearby bench.

Once Ando and Yugure got into the section of the adoption center where all the dogs resided, Ando could no longer contain his excitement, pointing out every breed he could name.

Ando listed ,"A Dalmatian! And a Golden Retriever! And a Maltese! And a Cocker spaniel! And a Beagl-!"

"Ok, we get it. There are a lot of dogs here." Yugure interrupted, feeling a shiver crawl down her spine," So, Ando. Which one do you want to look at?"

Ando looked around, now in deep thought as he tried to decide. He then pointed to the Dalmatians and pulled Yugure along as if she were a rag doll.

"Let's go see them!" Ando cried joyfully as he continued to point to the dogs.

"Whatever you say.." Yugure responded as Ando dragged her along, her head swimming.

As Ando looked at the Dalmatians, Yugure let out a small sigh and reminisce over the memories she had of this place. She had been coming here ever since she was about Ando's age. The first time she came, she was very intent on getting a pet that day but she wasn't sure what she wanted. She was there for what felt like hours that day and before she reluctantly decided on a grey kitten, a woman at the adoption center said to her.

 _"Picking out a pet can be a difficult task sometimes. But, that's only because a pet is something very special. Someone who you can feel a bond form deep within yourself the moment you two meet. Have you made that bond with Morgan here?" The woman asked her._

 _Yugure stared down at Morgan, feeling a bit of uncertainty creep up in her. Was the woman trying to test her? Could she be judging her? Or maybe, the woman just wanted what was best for Yugure._

 _With a long sigh, Yugure shook her head._

 _The woman's expression softened a bit," Then perhaps you can come back another day. Because usually, people think when they come here, they're are the ones looking for the pets but really...it's the pets who find them."_

 _"What does that mean?" Yugure asked with her head tilted._

 _"It means, those who who adopt here are generally drawn to the animals they've adopted. Like an unspoken connection that forms between the owner and animal." The woman explained._

 _Yugure nodded and every week for about three months Yugure came to the adoption center on a Monday afternoon, looking for a pet that she would have that unspoken connection with. She had seen many, many pets spanning from cats to birds to fish and many interested, but none of them enticed her in the way that the woman described._

 _Just when Yugure was about to give up on her seventh visit, Yugure saw a small group of geckos in the fish section of the adoption center._

 _"Geckos?" Yugure asked as she looked at the spacious case where all the geckos resided in._

 _"They had been rescued by from the desert somewhere in the Middle East. Their mother had died and they all had some evident health issues so they were taken care of by the vet next door. They're all better now and are in need of a home." The woman explained._

 _Yugure looked into the eyes of one of the geckos, with a very tiny collar with an 'X' written on the name plate._

 _"Why is there an 'X' on his name tag?" Yugure asked as she pointed to the gecko," Is he ok?"_

 _"Yes, the vets just chose to distinguish each gecko by giving them a letter in the English Alphabet." The woman explained," For example, this one is T and that is V."_

 _Yugure looked into the eyes of X and she could've sworn the gecko was feeling just as connected to her as she was._

 _"I want X!" Yugure declared as she pointed to the leopard gecko._

 _The woman looked at Yugure, taking note of the brilliant sparkle in her eyes after declaring that she wanted 'X'._

 _"Then X it is." The woman said._

Kanari continued to sit on the bench of the adoption center, now looking at the blank screen of her phone, having nothing better to do.

"You don't want to look at the pets?" The woman at the desk asked her.

Kanari didn't even look up from her phone, and flatly responded," No thanks. To be honest, I don't entirely want a pet, let alone a dog."

"Any reason as to why?" The woman asked her.

Kanari looked up from the blank screen of the phone to look at the woman dead in the eyes. She was expecting a harsh, judgmental look in her eyes but what she saw instead was nothing more than concern and sympathy within them.

Hesitantly, Kanari bit her lip before explaining herself and said," When I was a kid, about five or six years old, I had a dog. She was a Welsh Corgi, her name was Tiffany. She was like one of my best friends, I even got my friend Renge, who originally didn't like dogs, to warm up to her. She was friendly and nice to literally everyone she met. She was also fond of sleeping in my room. Then one day, she ran away. Early morning when my dad and sister were taking her out for a walk. We looked for her for months and we never saw her again."

"I'm sorry for your loss." The woman said in a compassionate voice.

Kanari shook her head," Don't be. It's been like ten years."

"Well clearly it affects you, as you still don't want to have another dog in your life to this day." The woman pointed out.

Kanari flinched upon hearing that and looked at the woman, seeming a little frustrated with her.

"So what?" Kanari hissed as she went back to looking at her phone.

"Isn't a little unfair to punish your brother because of your past experience?" The woman asked Kanari.

"I'm just saving him from the heartbreak." Kanari said in her defense, sounding a little bitter now.

"Could that heartbreak ever be greater than the one he would receive if he didn't get a dog in the first place?" The woman questioned," I saw the look in his eyes. He's a very caring boy, there are many dogs here who I think could connect with such a radiant boy like him. And I can tell, you still think fondly of Tiffany don't you?"

Kanari side-eyed the woman, not saying a single word.

"Your eyes had this sparkle to them when you talked about Tiffany. You cherish those memories of her more than you think." The woman explained," And wouldn't you want your brother to share a bond with a dog like the one you had with Tiffany?"

Kanari looked down into her lap and lost herself in deep thought.

"Um, Yugure? Don't you want to look at the dogs?" Ando asked her as they neared the pen where all the Cocker Spaniels resided.

Yugure shook her head frightfully and stood a comfortable distance away from the pen saying," I'm good."

"Are you sure?" Ando asked as he drew closer to the pen and away from Yugure.

Yugure nodded her head quickly and stood there awkwardly as Ando went to the Cocker Spaniels.

 _"I don't care how scared I am, I need to be here!"_ Yugure said in her mind _," Ando needs someone to help him decide, even if I'm only so knowledgeable on dogs, and I have to do this for Kanari..."_

Yugure then thought back to that dismal, uninterested look in Kanari's eye as she and Ando went to look at the dogs. A thought came to her and she began to wonder,

 _"Does Kanari dislike dogs?"_

Kanari went outside to take get some fresh air, getting blinded by sun and and all the bright white snow. She squinted as she took in the crisp winter air and suddenly heard someone screaming.

She turned in the direction of where it came from and saw a young girl, who appeared to be in her twenties running madly past her.

"What's going on?" Kanari shouted to her.

"The vet! Something-A monster's inside!" The woman screamed as she ran for dear life.

"A monster huh?" Kanari said as she took out her pen.

"So...again, why did it have to be a vet?" Rishi asked Vice as he sat on top of a counter, poking a frog that had taken a liking to him gently.

Vice looked at the vet's office, now in shambles with a Delinquous made from a cage scaring away any remaining civilians inside. Vice didn't acknowledge Rishi's question and stood in silence as he awaited the Pretty Cure.

There was one woman left at the vet's office, that woman being the receptionist. She had made sure that everyone had evacuated safely before she did and now, she had gotten the Delinquous' attention.

The Delinquous then swung an arm at her in an attempt to pick her up but just then, two figures bursted through the doorway, with one of them shouting,

"Pretty Cure, Quadratic Termination!"

A shield was created around the woman and just before the Delinquous broke it down, the woman escaped and ran out of the vet's office.

"You two!" Science shouted with Arithmetic standing beside her, backs against each other," It's bad enough you raise fear and terror in citizens wherever you go, but to scare the animals?"

"Absolutely unacceptable!" Arithmetic and Science shouted in unison.

"That's what I was thinking..." Rishi said in a low voice, the frog now atop of his head.

Vice snapped his fingers and the Delinquous went charging after Science and Arithmetic. Science dashed away from the Delinquous while Arithmetic leapt up and drive a kick into the Delinquous. She then jumped away from the Delinquous and landed beside Science.

"Today, we need to prove that we're just as strong as Lit and History, ok?" Arithmetic affirmed.

Science nodded and the girls then charged up to the Delinquous in sync. Together they landed a punch on the Delinquous and sent it flying a few feet.

"Our magical attacks won't work on this Delinquous, assuming it's just like the one from last time." Science observed as she stared down at her hands.

Arithmetic nodded slowly and jumped quickly as she saw the Delinquous get back up. She stood atop of one of the chairs in the waiting room and waited for the Delinquous to make it's move. After a moment, it went over and tried to grab Arithmetic, but she was too quick as she leapt off the seat and slid between the Delinquous' legs.

"Carpet burn..." Arithmetic said between clenched teeth as she felt a stinging sensation at the back of her legs.

"Arithmetic watch out!" Science cried as she jumped in front of the blue Cure before shouting," Pretty Cure, Cosmic Eclipse!"

Science turned her head the other way, knowing her shield wouldn't last under against the Delinquous. But hopefully it would remain in tact long enough for her and Arithmetic to get away. Arithmetic managed to scurry out in time away from the Delinquous, but Science wasn't as lucky, being blasted to the far wall of the office.

"Sci, are you alright?" Arithmetic called out as she looked to Cure Science who was trying to rise back onto her feet, her knees quaking as she did so.

"I'll be alright." Science reassured as she wobbled a bit against the wall while standing up.

"But I'm not so sure you'll be." Rishi chimed in with a small smirk on his face.

Arithmetic arched an eyebrow, trying to figure out what he meant before she noticed the Delinquous racing towards her while charging an ominous looking beam within it's hands. Arithmetic just looked at the Delinquous, petrified in fear as her pupils shrunk knowing she didn't have any time left to defend herself.

"Pretty Cure, Storming Legend!" History's voice could be heard shouting from the entrance of the office. A thunderstorm came to the Delinquous and battled it down before it could hit Arithmetic.

Literature and History appeared beside Arithmetic, the latter blowing off the top of her staff as it reverted into it's regular form.

"So, I'm assuming Sci called you guys?" Arithmetic asked as she dusted herself off. Literature and History nodded with Science rushing towards the girls.

"Look!" Science said as she pointed a finger to the ground," Some of the animals got loose!"

"Shoot, I guess that means-" Literature said before being cut off by the roar of the Delinquous as it ran towards the girls," You and Arithmetic collect the animals and round them up somewhere safe while History and I take care of the Delinquous."

Science and Arithmetic nodded and began chasing after as many animals as they could find.

Arithmetic began chasing after a dog in the background while Literature called upon her scepter.

"Appear! Ardent Scepter!" Literature called out as her scepter materialized before her.

She twirled her scepter around in her hand and yelled out," Shape shift! Ardent Striker!"

Just before the Delinquous came stomping over towards Literature, she held her bow and drew back the arrow shouting," Pretty Cure, Typhoon of Passion!"

Her arrow, conjuring up a tornado while doing so, was launched straight into the Delinquous who fell over. Science, who was rescuing a tiny macaw behind the Delinquous ran away as quickly as possible and came out unscathed.

Science had it much easier than Arithmetic in rescuing the animals as the two of them decided that she would get the reptiles while Arithmetic would get the cats, dogs and everything else. But, she still needed to make sure she picked up the lizards and geckos with absolute care, holding out her hand and waiting patiently for it to take to her. Just as she was was for a little infant Tokay gecko to crawl into her palm, the Delinquous nearly stepped on the gecko. But thankfully, History pushed the Delinquous to the side just in the nick of time.

History then knelt down to History's side for a brief moment and looked down at the gecko, only now crawling into Science's palm.

"How many more are left?" History asked her as she and Science rose up with the latter's hands cupped around the gecko.

"I think I saw about two more kittens, one more frog and two more geckos..." Science said as she looked down to the floor to see if there were any scrambling away near her. She then recognized a leopard gecko looking around in confusion as it jerked it's head around in opposite directions.

"Xander!" Science cried as she knelt down to gather him. History then left her and returned to fighting the Delinquous.

"Here kitty, kitty..." Arithmetic called as she laid down beneath a chair where a ginger kitten with stripes was sitting. The kitten refused to take to Arithmetic and was seated under a chair in the corner.

"If this keeps up any longer I'm going have to just you drag out..." Arithmetic sighed, feeling a little frustrated at this point," To be honest, I'm not even all that fond of cats myself...but, someone clearly loves you a lot; taking you to the vet to make sure you're healthy."

The kitten mewed and Arithmetic chuckled a little as she tried reaching out to the kitten.

"Arithmetic!" Literature shouted as the Cure clad in red began chasing after the Delinquous.

Arithmetic turned her head in the direction where Literature's voice was coming from and saw the Delinquous running towards the seats.

"Not on my watch!" Arithmetic shouted as she stood up from underneath the seats and in front of the chair where the kitten was underneath, conjuring up a blue shield made from her Quadratic Termination attack.

"Pretty Cure, Enchantress Whirlwind!" Literature shouted as a tornado with hearts swirling within it was blasted to the Delinquous.

Just then, the kitten crawled out from under the chair and braced up Arithmetic's foot. Arithmetic looked down at the kitten in surprise and picked it up slowly, not even able to believe the fact that it came out from underneath the chair.

"I thought you were stubborn~" Arithmetic crooned as she read the nametag on the kitten, it's name being Fred.

"And I thought you didn't like cats~" Literature teased as she stuck her tongue at Arithmetic.

"I can make exceptions." Arithmetic declared as she ran to the spot where she and Science were keeping the animals safe. Arithmetic ran near to the entrance way where the animals that had been rescued were kept under two shields made by Arithmetic and Science; the reptiles under a violet shield while the cats and dogs were underneath a blue shield.

"Thank goodness you were the last one..." Arithmetic remarked with a sigh of relief as Science came near to her, depositing the two geckos into the violet bubble beside her.

Arithmetic then looked Science dead in the eyes and declared," Now it's our turn to show the Delinquous what were made of!"

Science nodded and the girls joined the fray.

All Arithmetic and Science could right now was fight back physically, as their powers as of now couldn't compare with the Delinquous. So not only did they have to dodge attacks form the Delinquous, they had to dodge tornados and thunderstorms being summoned by their fellow Cures.

"Man, I sure can't wake until we can activate our scepters." Arithmetic mused between clenched teeth as she and Science ran for cover underneath the main desk.

"Arithmetic, over there!" Science whispered as she grabbed the blue Cure's arm and pointed to a tall house-plant near the corner of the room. There was a black cat behind it, clawing at the plant.

"You missed one!" Science whispered to Arithmetic, getting up from underneath the main desk and rushing over to the cat.

"Sci, no!" Arithmetic yell-whispered as she extended a hand to grab to purple Cure. She was too late and Science began to run to the cat.

Literature and History were too busy fending off the Delinquous to notice Science trying to rescue the cat. Science picked up the cat quickly while the girls fought off the Delinquous, who was charging up another beam. She ran as quickly as she could and failed to notice the Delinquous aiming at her.

"Cure Science!" The Cures all screamed in unison as the Delinquous shot the beam to her. Science tripped over a fold in the carpet, just inches away from the shield and threw the cat in hopes it would land inside the shield. Thankfully the cat did land in the shield, but Science was hit by the beam. Though, beam did hit her as hard as she thought it would. It was as if the Delinquous lost sight of the target, or, someone had kicked it down so it's beam wouldn't hit Science.

Science looked up, only a little bit battered and saw Arithmetic standing on top of the Delinquous with an unforgiving look in her eye as she glared down to the Delinquous.

"No one hurts my friends or any animal on my watch!" Arithmetic shouted viciously.

"It's just a cat...is it even yours?" Rishi asked flatly with his eyes narrowed at Arithmetic.

Arithmetic glowered towards Rishi and finally said while jumping off the Delinquous," It doesn't have to be mine for us to protect it!"

"It may belong to someone else, but that doesn't mean we can let it get hurt!" Science declared bravely," Pets are a precious friend to those who own them, they can be the best friend we'd never imagine to find in a creature and yet we still do. So with that being said..."

"We won't let you harm any of these pets!" Science and Arithmetic said together.

Arithmetic and Science began to glow blue and violet respectively, from head to toe. Arithmetic called upon Bertie and Science summoned Nikki.

"Is it time to unleash our scepters?" Arithmetic asked as she looked at Bertie. Bertie nodded quickly and so, Arithmetic looked over to Science, feeling rather victorious.

"Come on out! Algorithm Scepter!" Arithmetic called out .

"Behold! Wondrous Scepter!" Science called upon.

The girls looked at their scepters in awe as they held them within their hands. It was almost too good to be true to hold these scepters, now overflowing with power, in their hands. Arithmetic even took a gulp as she looked down at her blue scepter in hand.

Instinctively, Science shouted while twirling the scepter around in her hands," Shape shift! Wondrous Caduceus!"

Her scepter then turned into a tall and thin purple staff with what looked like a pair of lilac snakes encircling it and a deep violet orb on top with a pair of silver wings on either side of the orb.

"Pretty Cure, Galactic Mirage!" Science shouted as the Delinquous was hit with an enormous splash of water. Her staff shot out more splashes of water and the Delinquous tried dodging the splashes coming towards it with little avail.

Once her staff stopped shooting the blasts of water, the Delinquous began stomping towards her again. Science's looked at her staff in confusion, hitting in hopes it would shoot out more blast of water.

But just then, Arithmetic could be heard shouting out," Shape shift! Algorithm Sword!"

She was jumping from behind the Delinquous and getting ready to slice the Delinquous in half. But it turned around and it came out only merely grazed.

Arithmetic narrowed her eyes and made her sword revert back into it's scepter form.

"Pretty Cure, Imperial Dendrite!" She yelled as a mass of icicles and frost emerged around the Delinquous' feet, causing the Delinquous to be frozen in place. The Delinquous wiggled around passively as it tried to break the ice but then, Vice snapped his fingers again and, as if under his control, open the latch to it's cage and opened up a strange vortex within itself.

Chairs were flying into the Delinquous, and soon heavier things were beginning to get swallowed up to. Science checked to see if the barriers the animals were in were still kept in tact, but as she turned her head, she saw the one holding the reptiles cracking.

"No!" She shouted as she watched a familiar leopard gecko get drawn towards the vortex,"Xander!"

Science watched Xander draw closer to the Delinquous, the gecko being out of her reach.

Rishi then looked over his shoulder and caught Xander, while making sure to handle him with absolute care once the little gecko fell into his palm.

"Pretty Cure, Imperial Dendrite!" Arithmetic cried out again as she froze the opening of the Delinquous' cage shut.

Rishi then walked over to Cure Science, holding Xander in his palm while saying," This is yours, right?"

Science's cheeks tinted pink and she took Xander from Rishi, her eyes wide as she said," Thanks."

"This ends now!" Arithmetic shouted as she jumped up high into the air shouting," Pretty Cure, Conversion Blizzard!"

A plethora of icicles then emerged from the Arithmetic's scepter and went through the Delinquous, making it fall to it's feet, but not without dragging Arithmetic down by grabbing hold of her leg. Arithmetic yelped and dropped her scepter as she did so, beginning to feel helpless as the near drained Delinquous stomped towards her as it got up.

Literature and History were just about to purify it, but then, they heard Science shout," I don't think so!"

The violet-clad Cure literally knocked the Delinquous unconscious in the back of the head with her staff. The Delinquous fell over before Arithmetic's feet and Science winked to her, saying," I've got this."

Her staff then reverted into the scepter and she twirled it around while shouting," Pretty Cure, Brilliant Supernova!"

A void of violet and silver was where she and the Delinquous now resided in with the latter now inside a giant purple star while Science chanted,

"In a few a few moments you'll no longer be a being of defiance and when that rejoice-worthy time comes..." Science then tossed her scepter her scepter up into the air and pointed it at the Delinquous," You can thank me, Cure Science!"

An array of smaller stars appeared with the star that the Delinquous was trapped in and the Delinquous was cleansed.

Once it got cleansed, Science cheered with a wink," A plus!"

Rishi and Vice left shortly after and once the vet office's was returned back to it's original state, thanks to Arithmetic's Geometric Frenzy, the girls went to the adoption center to see if Ando made a choice on a dog.

Once they got back to the Adoption center, Kanari was met by the woman from before, offering her a very kind smile.

"I think your brother has made a new friend today."

Kanari went to go see her brother with the woman leading the group. The woman brought them to Ando who was petting a Dalmatian puppy excitedly.

"Kana, look at this one!" Ando cried as he motioned her towards the puppy," His name is Blake."

Kanari looked at Blake and then she looked at Ando. Ando reminded her of herself when she had Tiffany by her side and it reminded her of what the woman said to her. She had been thinking about Tiffany so much, she never considered how good this would've been for Ando.

"So, what do you say Kana? Please?" Ando begged as he looked at Kanari.

Kanari thought hard for a few moments before realizing that Blake had almost the same look in his eyes as Ando did.

"Ok." Kanari answered, causing Ando to smile a giant and hug his sister.

"Thanks so much! But...why the sudden change of heart?" Ando asked her.

"Well, because...I remembered something important today..." Kanari began," A pet is sometimes like a best friend, the only difference being that while it may take years for you to declare a best friend with a human, it can sometimes only take a short while before realizing you've found a very special friend within a pet. A friend you'll have with you forever, be it physically or just as a memory. Do you think you've found a special friend in Blake?"

Ando nodded his head vigorously and exclaimed," Yeah!"

"Then let's get him."


	24. Here comes the bride

"One day left..." Renge thought to herself as she put on a sheer red blouse with a small frill in the center over her camisole. She took a good look at herself in the mirror, and was only half impressed with what she saw. One more day, and the new semester would begin. It was a little exciting to say the least, but it also reminded Renge that she would no longer get see some people from first semester on a daily basis. At least she was half-way done with the year. That part thrilled Renge a little, as she thought of how quickly time would fly by. She took out a tube of dark mauve lipstick and applied it in the mirror. As she was applying it, something inside the little basket slung over her closet doorknob caught her eye. It was the grey beret she wore a couple of months to the aquarium.

Renge pursed her lips and closed the tube of lipstick, putting it away into the purse and picking up the beret. She looked at it fondly, feeling her heart sink a little as she looked down at it. She could just feel the grip Nao had on it when he caught it for her.

"I never did get to fix things because I had to go make sure Chiyo was safe..." Renge said as she looked down at the hat, feeling the texture of the beret within her hands," But I suppose it's for the best, for now at least. Plus, I've got better things to do today rather than dwell on what should've- I mean could've been!"

Renny looked up from the notes he was taking regarding Vice and had a curious look on his face," What are you doing today?"

Renge smiled a bright smile at Renny," I've got to pick up my prom gown today. Kanari, Chiyo and Yugure are coming with me too."

She slung on a thick black cardigan and looked at herself in the mirror again, feeling as if something was missing. She snapped her fingers in realization and took a necklace from her computer desk. Now she felt complete and all that was left was to reaffirm the meeting place with the girls. Renge took out her phone from her pocket and noticed a text was sent from Yugure.

"Oh, Yugure's not coming..." Renge said with a small frown as she looked down at her phone.

"Why not?" Topher asked as he looked at the notes Renny had been writing, sounding only half-interested.

"Said she's not feeling well." Renge answered as she shrugged. She got her purse from beside her bed and just before she left, Renny stopped her from doing so.

"Renge, just make sure to keep an eye out for Acumen." Renny advised," I know it's a bit of a tedious task but-"

"No, it's fine! I don't mind at all." Renge reassured with a wave of dismissal," Though, I haven't been able to think of anyone else who could possibly host Acumen. Ayano was admittedly was my best bet. But I'm sure will find Acumen soon enough. I'll see you guys later alright?"  
The birds waved her goodbye and continued to look at the notes Renny had just written.

"Is this really all we know about Vice?" Topher asked as he looked at all the notes for the man that Renny compiled.

Renny nodded, feeling a little unsatisfied with all he was able to gather," It's just so...unsettling. And it's a surprise to say, we have less information on him than we do on Temptasia."

"What?" Topher asked in surprise as he then flipped to the page of notes that Renny had compiled for Temptasia.

Topher stared down at the page in silence. While there wasn't necessarily a lot of information uncovered regarding Temptasia, there was certainly a bit more to her page of notes than Vice.

"How's that even possible?" Topher asked as he flipped between the pages for Temptasia and Vice. Renny shrugged in a clueless manner while Topher continued to flip between the pages.

Renge leaned against the glass door in front of a store called Harukaze Dresses. Being down town by herself raised a little fear in her, but it was broad daylight so she wasn't as nervous as she thought she would be. Many people walked past her and soon, Chiyo and Kanari arrived.

Renge waved to them and the girls went into the store, taking off their shoes at the door way. The amount of dresses inside the store was overwhelming and it filled Renge up with excitement that she hadn't felt since the last time she came here in October.

"I can't wait to see your dress." Kanari declared as the girls walked to the desk where the shop-keeper. Renge met the woman's gaze and nearly drew a blank before Chiyo hastily elbowed her.

"Hi, I'm here to pick up a dress." Renge said, sounding less awkward than expected as she felt her heart speed up a bit.

"Last name?" The woman asked her as she looked through a large book filled with names in front of her.

"Kotori." Renge answered quickly. The woman led her to the back of the store and Chiyo and Kanari started to look at dresses.

Kanari saw a dress that reminded her of her own prom dress and touched the silky fabric of it. The dress looked almost identical expect for the fact that there were less gems and it was more green than blue. She then looked up to Chiyo, who had been eyeing a pale yellow dress before her.

"I guess you're going to have to think about what kinda dress you want to wear for prom pretty soon huh?" Kanari asked as her with a little smirk.

Chiyo then looked up and Kanari, seeming unusually startled as she pulled her hand away from the dress as she was about to touch it, saying," Yeah. I suppose so. Have you got you dress yet?"

"Yeah, just the other day actually. Looks kinda like this." Kanari said as she tugged on the dress beside her.

"Guys, do you still want to see my dress or what?" Renge called out as she emerged from the back room with the dress in hand.

Kanari and Chiyo walked up to Renge, who was holding the ornate dress out for the girls.

Kanari narrowed her eyes while saying," That's very lovely. Now how about we get to see you _in_ the dress?"

Renge rolled her eyes and replied," I was getting to that."

Renge went into the change room and put her dress on. Her dress was strapless and had a corset-styled back, so she had to call the shop keeper for some assistance.

"Could you help me?" Renge asked as she pointed to the back of her dress. The shop keeper nodded, though Renge didn't see it.

"Breathe in." The shop keeper said imperatively.

Renge did as told and all of a sudden, she felt an immeasurably sense of constriction tingle through out her mid-section. Renge let out a small yelp as she shut her eyes, not expecting to feel so constricted.

"Are you finished lacing it up?" Renge asked uncomfortably.

"Just about." The woman said as she laced the corset of Renge's dress. The shop-keeper finished lacing Renge's dress and Renge walked out of the change room. Somehow, the dress felt a little bit more breathable compared to when it was being laced against her and it made her feel all elegant. She looked at the mirror in front of herself and stared at the dress for a few moments. She then looked to Kanari and Chiyo who were seated on a leathery chair beside her for feedback.

Kanari gave her a thumbs up and Chiyo nodded in approval.

"It's not too big or anything is it?" Renge asked as she turned around in the dress to inspect from the sides and back.

"It's just right." Chiyo affirmed as Renge continued to inspect herself.

"Well, that's good to hear." Renge declared with a sigh of relief while she headed back to the change room. The shop keeper un-did the lace on her dress and slowly took off the dress, being careful not to damage it.

While Renge was changing out of her dress, Kanari and Chiyo looked around the store and heard the chime of the door opening behind them. They turned around and saw Natsuhi and a woman who looked a lot like her entering the store, Kanari's eyes widening upon seeing her hear.

"Do you know them?" Chiyo asked in a whisper, quickly taking note of Kanari's stare.

While Natsuhi and the other woman walked around the store in search of the shop keeper, who went into the back room, Natsuhi found Kanari.

"Kanari!" Natsuhi beamed," What are you doing here?"

"Me and my friend Chiyo here are just our other friend Renge who's picking up her prom dress today." Kanari stammered.

"How nice, well I assume you remember my sister Touko right?" Natsuhi asked as she held her hand in front of Touko. Touko looked around the store nervously as she fidgeted with her bracelets. She had dark skin just like Natsuhi's and her curly hair came to her neck. She seemed very anxious as she inspected the bridal section of the room.

Touko then sputtered,"What if she doesn't have it today? What if the order was never placed by mistake? What if-?"

"Touko, relax." Natsuhi demanded in a calm voice," You girls wouldn't happen to know where the shop keeper is would you?"

"I think she's in the back." Chiyo said as the shop-keeper emerged from the back room.

"Excuse me, has my dress come yet?" Touko asked nervously as the woman came towards the desk," Sorry for sounding all pushy. I'm not usually like this, it's just-"

"I know, I know. I'm no stranger to disheveled brides." The shop keeper stated as she opened the book full of names on her desk," Last name?"

"Kogane. But soon to be Sakamoto." Touko answered, letting a small smile appear on her face.

"Come with me." The shop keeper said as she led Touko to the back.

"Touko's getting married?" Kanari asked, sounding rather shocked as Natsuhi sat down beside the girls.

"Yes, next month on the twenty-seventh. But, she's been very...anxious about it for the last few days." Natsuhi said with a sheepish giggle," It's understandable though."

"Getting married is quite a big deal, she must be very excited." Chiyo mused as Renge came out of the change room and joined them.

"Yes, but she also wants to make sure that everything regarding the wedding is perfect. And I mean absolutely everything. From the dress, to the cake and even the bridal shower." Natsuhi lamented as she rested her head under her fists.

"Who's getting married?" Renge asked as she held her dress in her hands carefully.

"Natsuhi's sister." Kanari answered," By the way, this is Natsuhi, an old friend of mine. Anyways, Touko sounds stressed over everything here."

"Yeah, I mean I've never heard of someone stress out over the bridal shower." Chiyo remarked.

"Well, deep down she's a perfectionist and, she's wants this wedding to be as perfect as humanly possible, no matter what happens or who does and doesn't show up." Natsuhi explained," The bridal shower's on Saturday and I haven't seen her so stressed since her finals in her third year of high-school."

Touko then appeared from out of the back room with her wedding dress in hand, with a rather agitated look on her face.

"Natsuhi, the worst thing just happened!" Touko exasperated as she went into the change room. Natsuhi let out a sigh and headed to the front of the change room to talk to Touko.

"What happened?" Natsuhi asked from outside of the change room.

"The caterers for the bridal shower are over booked! Can you believe that?" Touko shouted in the change room," They said can't cater for the bridal shower! So what I'm supposed to do now?"

"Hire another catering company?" Natsuhi suggested.

"Everyone's going to be booked for Saturday afternoon by now." Touko groaned," I knew something like this was going to happen."

"Well, you don't necessarily need a catering company for your bridal shower." Natsuhi stated," You could do a potluck or, or..."

Natsuhi then looked over to Kanari and had an idea come to her," Or, you could let Kanari's family's restaurant cater to your bridal shower!"

"Could you do that?" Natsuhi whispered to Kanari. Kanari nodded to her.

"How does that sound?" Natsuhi asked her.

Touko remained silent for a few moments and then said while exiting the change room in her wedding dress," I guess that would be alright."

"Good," Natsuhi said as she came close to Touko and led her to the mirror.

"Does that mean we're invited?" Kanari asked curiously as Touko examined herself in the mirror.

"Yeah, you're all invited." Touko said, sounding a little uninterested as she looked at her dress to see if there were any missing beads.

The girls now seemed very excited and then Renge said," We have one more friend who we'd hate to leave out, can she come to?"

"Sure." Touko said as she waved a hand in dismissal as she looked at her profile while pulling Natsuhi over to inspect a part of her dress," Does this gem here look clouded to you?"

Elsewhere, at Temptation, Temptasia sat at her throne and had screen in front of her, replaying all of Cure Science's actions from the last fight.

"Didn't you see that?" Temptasia asked with a soft chuckle to Rishi who was standing before her, watching the footage of Cure Science.

"See what?" Rishi asked, his voice a mixture of confusion and apathy.

"That look in her eyes." Temptasia responded with a devious smile on her face," It's like something has sprung up from her. Like, it's as if she just saw you in a different light."

"So what about it?" Rishi asked as he continued to watch the footage.

"We need to make you of this, this...phenomenon." Temptasia declared,"Go meet with her, charm her like you do any other individual and reel out every secret the Pretty Cure might be holding. Be it, a clue to where the book of Omnipotence is, or if they have a secret ace up their sleeve. Anything and Everything that can be of use to us, you can uncover it. You just need to be casual and make sure she won't get suspicious at any given time. This is an on-going mission, ok?"

"Right." Rishi replied once the screen disappeared. He left the room and Temptasia was left with the mirror sitting on the arm rest on her throne.

"Do you seriously believe that he can uncover anything that will be of any use to us?" The mirror asked her.

"Most definitely." Temptasia answered with a smile appearing on her face.

"Well, even though Vice is now on board searching for the book and going to make those Mega-Delinquouses of yours, you still have something very important to do." The voice said to her," You need to look for her, as if you're life depends on it. You need to find her in order to inherit the power that you could've never attained like this. You must find-"

"-I know!" Temptasia interrupted haughtily as she snapped the compact mirror shut," And I will find her, no matter what."

Yugure sat at the head of her bed, looking through an article on her lap top. She yawned a little, and then continued to scroll through the article. She hadn't felt this tired in such a long time, she nearly forgot what it felt like to go through a day without getting a wink of sleep. Her blanket was on top of her and she felt all cozy being snuggled under her bed sheets. Her parents were at work right now so she had the house to herself. She looked over to her phone, frowning a little as she felt bad for not going with the girls today to see Renge's dress. She really did want to, but she had just been so tired this morning that she didn't want to risk going out and over-exert herself considering how terribly she slept last night. Sitting here with an article to read to relax herself with was what she considered best for a situation like this. Maybe she grow tired in the next hour and take a nap. It had been a while since she had been dealt with a situation like this, but that didn't she had forgotten how to deal with it.

She shut her eyes and took a deep sigh, feeling wonderfully tranquil.

"Hey." She heard a voice say from what sounded like her window sill.

Slowly, she opened her eyes an found Rishi sitting on her window sill. She screamed and ran straight to her computer chair, hiding her face against the back of it.

"J-j-j-just what on earth do you think you're doing here?" Yugure questioned angrily, searching for her transformation pen in pocket before realizing it was on her side table.

"Relax, I'm not looking for a fight." Rishi assured her calmly asked he ran a hand through his hair.

Yugure stared at him with her brows furrowed, clutching the back of her chair.

"Wow, you really don't like me huh? Can't say I'm not surprised." Rishi remarked,"We're nothing more than enemies, who don't even need to know the other's name. Hm, could it be you don't know mine?"

"I know your name." Yugure declared, sounding just as furious as before.

"Then what is it?" Rishi questioned with a smirk.

"I actually know all of your guys' names, but I have nick names for most of you in my head." Yugure blurted out unintentionally.

"So what are they?" Rishi asked curiously.

"Well, there's jittery clock girl, scary Victorian lady, and the junkie." Yugure listed off.

Rishi then tried matching up the nicknames with the members of Temptation out loud," So, I guess jittery clock girl would be Jika, Zephora must be the scary Victorian lady and that just leaves me as...the junkie?"

Yugure shrugged and Rishi simply laughed while Yugure clutched on tighter to the back of the chair.

"You didn't answer the question." Rishi reminded her.

Yugure took a large gulp and lowered her gaze," It's Rishi."

"Speaking of junkies..." Rishi began as he sniffed his clothes, detecting the smell of cannabis on them," Is that why you're so far away?"

"Nope." Yugure flatly said with her eyes narrowed," It's just you."

"Wow, aren't we a little cold..." Rishi remarked with another chuckle.

"So why are you visiting me?" Yugure asked him impatiently.

"Because all the other Cures are out right now." Rishi joked, thought Yugure took him seriously," Relax, I was kidding. Because, I'm not Rishi right now, and you're not the heterochromiac Cure Science. And since we aren't those people right now, who's to say we have to be enemies like this?"

"I thought no one would have noticed that..." Yugure stated, sounding rather surprised that Rishi would notice such a thing.

"It's not as noticeable as I make it sound, don't worry." Rishi reassured," I just like looking at other people's eyes."

Yugure than began looking at Rishi's eyes, not noticing how bright they were until now. They reminded her of sparkly little topazes, she had never seen such mesmerizing eyes.

"Now you're looking at my eyes!" Rishi exclaimed as he pointed to her.

"N-no I'm not!" Yugure claimed as she hid her face behind the back of the computer chair.

"So, how's your gecko doing?" Rishi then asked.

"Um, Xander's doing alright. But...after that visit from the vet, we found that Xander wasn't a boy...so now she's Xandra." Yugure explained as she motioned Rishi to come look at Xandra's cage.

"She's pregnant, so that's why she didn't seem so well..." Yugure explained as she and Rishi looked at Xandra inside her cage," I guess it happened when I took her to meet my other friend's gecko across the street."

"What are you going to do with the babies?" Rishi asked as he stared at Xandra.

"I'm not sure just yet." Yugure answered," I might keep one or two of them."

Rishi's gaze then went to something on a table next to Yugure's cage for Xandra. Laying on the table was a necklace that reminded him of a pendulum a little. It was long and clear and it glinted in the sun as he held it up to the light.

"Do you like it?" Yugure asked as she watched Rishi touch the tip of the pendant.

"Can't say I don't." Rishi answered as he twirled the pendant around in his fingers.

"You can take it. I've got another one that looks just like it." Yugure declared as she stood up and headed for her bedroom door.

"Where are you going?" Rishi asked as he shot his head up once he noticed Yugure walking to the door.

"Well, I need to get my uninvited visitor something to eat don't I?" Yugure asked as she turned around before leaving the room briefly.

Rishi continued to look at the necklace in silence, noticing a scratch on the pendant shortly after Yugure left. He rolled his eyes and looked around the rest of the room. Her starry-themed room really impressed Rishi. The room really did remind him of her with it's pale lavender walls and stars. He put the necklace in his pocket and just then, Yugure came into the room with a tray that had a pair of plastic cups on it and a bowl of cookies.

"I'm back." Yugure said as she closed the door behind her. She began walking over to Rishi but then she suddenly tripped over the carpet and dropped the tray, spilling water and cookies all over the floor.

"Are you alright?" Rishi asked as he came to her side slowly.

"Yeah, I'm just fine..." Yugure muttered as she tried gathering some cookies that spilt beside her. Rishi then began to help her pick the cookies up from off the ground.

"You don't really need to help me..." Yugure said as she watched Rishi help her pick up the crumbled cookies.

"It would be pointless not to help." Rishi shrugged as he stood up, most of the cookies now put back onto the tray.

"Well, thanks. I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Yugure explained with a large sigh as she sat on her bed," Probably because I was too-deprived to care."

"Sleep-deprived?" Rishi repeated curiously while he looked at her with a puzzled expression as he sat on the bed near to her.

"Oh shoot." Yugure said after realizing what she had just said," I just had a rough night's sleep is all."

Yugure then remembered something she wanted to ask him," You said you weren't Rishi right now earlier, what's that supposed to mean?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Rishi declared in that typical calm tone of his.

"Try me." Yugure challenged, not intending to sound flirtatious but rather because she was merely curious.

"I'm not sure if I should..." Rishi began.

"Was is it, like an alter ego or something?" Yugure asked, growing slightly impatient with him.

"You read a lot of comic books don't you?" Rishi asked, lips curling to form a smirk,"Ok, fine. I've got an alter ego. Ishimaru Yoshida."

Yugure bursted out into laughter, much to Rishi's surprise. She had a powerful laugh and held her sides as she laughed at him.

"Why are you laughing at that?" Rishi asked, raising his voice slightly.

Yugure's laughter died down and she regained her composure while saying," Sorry, it's just I knew a character with the same name from an anime and he was just...Anyways, I could never call you that. But with that being said, does 'Ishimaru' do anything while undercover?"

"He works at the Silver Platter." Rishi responded," Anyways, I should get going."

"Ok, well I guess I'll just see you next time or something..." Yugure stammered as she walked over to her bedroom door before remembering how he entered her room. He left through the window and Yugure was alone in her room. Well, alone with Xandra. She stared at Xandra's cage, tensing up a bit as she stared at the gecko. She bit her lip and wrapped her arms around her knees, being uncomfortably aware of her racing heart.

"Just why did he come here?" Yugure asked quietly in a very suspicious voice as she looked out the window.

Rishi was sitting atop of Yugure's house's roof and stared into the distance silently. He would need to visit her a few more times before he could reel anything of importance out of her. He then took a large sigh and left, dropping the necklace that Yugure gave him.

Yugure then looked over to her phone and saw a text from Renge.

"Hey Yugure, we've been invited to one of Kanari's friends bridal shower! We think it would be a good opportunity to check for Acumen. It's going to be this Saturday at her place, we can pick you up Saturday at noon, so message me if you can make it!" The text read.

"A bridal shower sounds like fun~!" Yugure exclaimed after reading the text. She responded saying that she was definitely going to be there. She then looked out her window, taking note of the mildly bizarre weather outside her window. It had been snowing a lot this morning, but now the sun was out and the snow was beginning to melt away. She looked down at her backyard, only then realizing she didn't know who the bride for this bridal shower was going to be.

"I guess I'll figure out on Saturday..." Yugure said with a small giggle," Wait, does this mean I need to bring her a present too? What should I get her?"

Early Saturday morning, Yugure was the first in her house to wake up. She took a deep breath as she thought about the bridal shower happening today. Weddings were always quite exciting for Yugure, though she had yet to cry at one. The thought of being with someone for many years to come made her heart soar and often made her question just who were special someone would be. Yugure looked at the clothes she had laid out for today. She had been told the event was going to be semi-formal, so she picked out a lilac dress that went to her knees with a bright light blue sash and a sheer white bolero jacket. She put on the outfit and felt so fancy in it, though, Yugure had a lot of fancy clothes to begin with; she just never wore so many of them all at once. She inspected her nails quickly as she took her purse from beside her bed. Her cyan and ultramarine striped manicure had yet to be chipped. She went downstairs quietly to not wake her parents and got herself some cereal for breakfast. But, before she did that, she checked to see if any mail had came in for her.

She looked through the collections of letters in her hands. Most of them were just bills, but there was one letter at the bottom of the stack for her. On the top left of the letter, it said Yozora University and quickly, she opened it.

She read the letter and her eyes widened in surprise while she suppressed the urge to jump up and down in excitement. Her breathing quickened as she read the letter over again to make sure she wasn't mistaken. No mistake, she had been accepted into Yozora University.

She held her mouth in shock as she looked at the page now sitting on the table top. She then looked over to the stair-case that led to the upper level of her house and then felt a little less in the mood to rejoice. She never got around to telling her parents about her application to Yozora, feeling worried that they would be against her wanting to study Astrophysics, so, she was now left to tell them the truth. But, she really didn't want to tell them yet. Maybe in a few days or so, when she figured out what to say to them and how to say it without upsetting them. Yugure then stuffed the letter into her purse and wolfed down her cereal while trying not to remind herself that her parents would probably never agree to this. She went to the door step of her house and waited for the girls.  
After perhaps a half hour, the girls finally arrived in front of Yugure's house, with Chiyo of course being behind the wheel.

"Get in." Kanari said from the passenger seat as Yugure approached the car. Yugure did as told and the girls drove off.

"So, Kanari, you said it was your friend who was getting married right?" Yugure asked, her voice a little more quiet than usual.

"Well, my friend's sister. I only know her so well and Natsuhi, the friend, volunteered Mizumoto Meadow to cater for it." Kanari explained.

"So do you know how the bride-to-be is doing this morning?" Renge asked from the back seat beside Yugure.

"Natsuhi said she's getting all nervous for today, which is understandable, but she also said she's beginning to wonder if this was a good idea." Kanari answered as she looked down at her phone.

"What, having Mizumoto Meadow cater to the bridal shower?" Chiyo asked, paying little attention to the girls' conversation.

"No, the entire bridal shower." Kanari responded," Natsuhi said she's nervous that some of her friends from college aren't going to want to come."

"Why's that?" Yugure asked inquisitively.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Kanari replied as she put her phone away into her purse.

The girls soon arrived at Touko's house and they stood outside patiently after knocking on her door. They were all dressed just as nicely as Yugure was, with Renge wore a silky maroon dress that went to her knees, while Kanari wore a simple yet classy white blouse with high-waisted black jeans and Chiyo wore a yellow cowl-neck sleeveless shirt with a pair of white slacks.

Just then, the door bursted open and Touko motioned the girls in looking as distressed as ever wearing only a wrinkled t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

"Good to see you Ms Touko." Renge said while Touko went into the kitchen looking for something, leaving the girls in her living room.

"Good to see to you too girls. Kanari, did you bring the food?" Touko asked from the kitchen over the sounds of pots and pans clattering to the ground as she looked for something.

"My dad's going to drop it off in about twenty minutes, is that alright?" Kanari called from the living room as the girls sat on the large three seater sofa in the room.

Touko returned from the kitchen, with a bag of paper plates in one hand and a look of relief on her face.

"That'll be fine." Touko declared as she took the paper plates out from the bag and placed them on the table near to the kitchen," The guests should be arriving any time now, which reminds me, I really need to change!"

Touko then rushed upstairs and called down from the head of the stair way," You guys can help yourself to a muffin or some coffee in the kitchen ok?"

One by one, the girls went into Touko's kitchen to find some muffins and coffee that was allegedly in her kitchen. Renge took a chocolate chip muffin and nibbled at it while she glowered to the coffee maker on the counter. The coffee was black and Renge wasn't too sure of how much sugar and milk it would take to make the coffee somewhat to her taste nor was she keen on trying to experiment for herself.

"Oh look, she takes her coffee the same way I do." Chiyo noted as she glanced at Touko's coffee maker.

Kanari and Yugure gawked at Chiyo in shock as they watched the brunette pour the black coffee into a cup from the cupboard.

"What?" Chiyo asked after noticing their stares," It's not like I drink coffee every day."

"You make it look so easy..." Kanari remarked, slightly in disgust as she looked at Chiyo take brisk sips from the cup.

"What? Drinking black coffee?" Chiyo asked as she took another sip," It's not that hard."

Yugure was beginning to feel quite thirsty herself and luckily for her, she spotted a box of tea bags of Touko's counter. She went over to the counter and took out one of the tea bags, along with a cup, pouring water from the sink into it. She then put the cup into Touko's microwave for one minute and waited patiently, humming lowly while doing so.

"That's how you make tea?" Kanari asked, her eyes narrowed at Yugure while she waited for the microwave.

"Well I can't just use her stove!" Yugure claimed in yell-whisper.

"But it seems like you didn't even think about using her stove..." Chiyo mentioned quietly as the microwave beeped.

"Tea-time~" Yugure cheered as she threw the bag of peppermint tea into the cup. She then thoughtlessly took a sip of her teeth and jumped with a small shriek, her tea being piping hot.

"I don't think it's cooled off yet..." Renge stated as Yugure put the cup of tea down.

"Oh great, I even got it on my dress." Yugure droned as she looked down at the dress' skirt," I'm going try soaking it in the bath room before it stains."

Yugure then went upstairs and ran the skirt of the dress under the sink while dabbing at it gently in hopes of not seeing any stains once she'd bring the skirt away from the sink. If anything, her dress was just more wet. She wrung out her dress and looked at herself in the mirror quickly before leaving. She seemed to look presentable for the most part, even with the now barely noticeable stain on her dress. She went out of the bath room and before she went down stairs, she caught a glimpse of Touko standing in a dress in front of her vanity.

Even though Yugure said nothing while looking at Touko, Touko was quick to realize that someone was looking at her.

"Somebody there?" Touko asked as she peered into the mirror, checking to see if someone else had been in her room the entire time.

"Just me..." Yugure said timidly as she walked into Touko's bedroom," Your dress looks very nice on you. You have good taste."

"Why thank you!" Touko beamed," But, it was actually my sister Natsuhi who picked out the dress for me. Though I really didn't like at first."

"But it suits you so well!" Yugure exclaimed as she looked carefully at the pale pink dress embellished with pearls that went to her knees, with Touko evidently tensing up as she sat on her bed," Oh, is something wrong? Was it something I said?"

"No not at all!" Touko reassured," I've just been worried about this whole wedding thing since the day Kazuki proposed..."

"You didn't say yes out of pity did you?" Yugure asked, her voice reeking of shock.

"I don't think anyone who go so far as to have a bridal shower if that were the case..." Touko replied with a chuckle with giving her a weak smile," There once was a time when me and my fiancee Kazuki didn't even like each other. Never acknowledged the others' presence. I was student council treasurer, and he was just another delinquent. We never spoke to each other, but the one thing that made me so aware of Kazuki's existence was my dad's absolute disdain of him. My dad taught literature and let's just say, Kazuki was not my dad's favourite student."

"So, you guys started dating in high-school right?" Yugure asked, not realizing she was interrupting Touko.

"Actually, no." Touko answered quickly, as if on cue," During high-school, we had never interacted. Not even brush past each other in the hallways. And half way into the semester, Kazuki had allegedly dropped out of high-school. There were rumors about it circling for at least five days and then after that, no one really spoke of him again. It was until my third year of college, when I got an internship at an employment office that I met him again."

Those memories were still fresh in Touko's mind, like it was yesterday and every time she thought about that faithful encounter, she felt like she literally living in that moment.

 _Touko was busy tapping away at the key board in front of her to notice the few people who walked into the office. All she saw from the corner of her eyes was nothing more than some baggy jeans and slouched shoulders. There appeared to be about two or three people in line behind Touko's desk and once she was finished typing on the keyboard, she attended to the people behind the desk with the friendliest smile she could manage for this time of day. The first two requested jobs politely and Touko gave them both a clip board and form to fill out. They thanked her gratuitously and went to sit down in the waiting area to fill them out. The third person looked vaguely familiar to Touko, but she couldn't put a name to him. He clearly didn't seem to be friends with the two before him and he looked both weary and reluctant as he looked Touko in the eyes as he said to her,_

 _"Hey, I'm here for a job."_

 _Touko noticed that he seemed to recognize her too, but like her, he said nothing about this._

 _Touko asked him to fill out a form attached to a clipboard and hand it back to her once he was finished. He went over to the waiting area to work on the form._

 _After figuring out who he was, Touko's eyes widened in shock and while she say something, she kept her mouth shut as she continued to watch him fill out the form. Once he was finished, he handed it back to her and looked at her curiously._

 _"Is there wrong?" He asked after noticing her stare._

 _"Didn't you go to Nagase?" Touko asked cautiously._

 _"Yeah why? Did you?" He asked her, though he sounded uninterested as he asked that second question._

"Life is full of surprises, and never would I have thought that I would fall in love with a man my father detested and my friends didn't approve of. But, I had never recalled feeling so in love until I met him. It was puzzling and it made me begin to question myself. I began wondering if this was all a mistake, that I was going to get hurt in the end. But...never mind. Anyways, that's pretty much why I'm nervous about this bridal shower. I don't know whether or not my friends actually disapprove of him and...I'm nervous I may lose them when I marry Kazuki. And then I wonder if it would be worth it to lose them over him..." Touko trailed off, her eyes downcast as she slumped her shoulders while sitting on the bed.

Yugure then piped up in an attempt to distract Touko away from her current thoughts," In a way, I can relate to the whole questioning myself. See, this morning, I got into a University I really wanted to go to, but I purposely didn't tell my parents because I want nervous they wouldn't let me. So, now I'm stuck deciding whether I should actually tell them, or put it off a little longer..."

Jika leaned against the front door of Touko's house in anguish, her muscles tensing up with pure stress as she remembered what she overheard Temptasia saying to Vice earlier before she left.

 _"They don't have much time left until someone finds the book. That much I'm sure of, as even the book has it's limits."_ Temptasia pointed out indifferently," _And it's dangerous to keep sending out our denizens when the Pretty Cure are only getting more and more stronger with each battle. Someone needs to be pulled out for a little while, or it'll cost them their life. If they let all the Pretty Cure fully activate their scepters, that spells trouble for us. And if that time comes, then we'll need to take action and begin to...modify one of our very own."_

"I can't let that happen to Zephora or Rishi!" Jika wailed to herself as balled her fists," No! I'm going to obliterate the Pretty Cure today, and then Temptasia won't have to pull out anyone and try to 'modify' them. Whatever that means..."

Jika then heard a large sigh from the upstairs of the house. She looked up and disappeared from the front of the house, reappearing inside of Touko's bedroom.

Touko shrieked as backed away to the far end of her bed.

"Touko, we got to get out of here!" Yugure urged as she tried pulling Touko along, with only some avail. Touko nodded her head rapidly but it was too late as Jika conjured up a chrome sphere that resembled a crumpled up piece of paper.

"Run amok, Delinquous!" Jika shouted as the crumpled up sphere fused with the goose-neck lamp on Touko's side table.

"Delinquous!" The Delinquous roared as it began to grow rapidly before jumping out of Touko's bedroom window.

"Thank god it didn't get to that size while it was in here..." Yugure stated before running down-stairs to get the girls. Yugure found the group still sitting in the kitchen, with not even a single guest in sight.

"Where's everyone else?" Yugure asked as she looked around incredulously," Never mind, we've got bigger problems."

The girls ran towards the roars of the Delinquous and soon found it at a playground where it scared off a group of kids who were running for their lives in tears.

"Invading a bridal shower and scaring away children from a playground has got to be the lowest thing you've done so far!" Renge shouted to Jika, who was perched on top of the playground's monkey-bars.

"I don't know, I've think I've done worse, wouldn't you say so?" Jika asked the girls in a strangely bitter voice as she looked over to the Delinquous for some input.

"Either way, we won't let do as you please!" Renge shouted as the girls held their pens up high.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" The girls shouted in unison with an array of red, blue, yellow and purple lights appearing from them.

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic announced.

"The subject of generations past with that are sure to last, Cure History!" History announced.

"The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!" Science announced.

"Making learning fun, together as one, we are..." The Cures all struck a pose," Academia Pretty Cure!"

"We haven't done that in a while have we?" Arithmetic pointed out.

The Cures then proceeded to battle with the Delinquous. Literature and Arithmetic tried attacking it at it's neck while History and Science beating it down from the back. The Delinquous spun it's 'head' towards History and Science, blinding the former with a tremendously bright light. History fell onto the ground with her eyes squeezed shut as Science came rushing to her side.

"Are you ok?" Science asked while History sat upright with her arm over her eyes.

"I'll be fine in about a couple moments, or minutes." History reassured, as she kept her arm over her eyes.

Science nodded and returned to fighting while Literature and Arithmetic were still attacking the Delinquous at the neck.

"Come on out! Algorithm Scepter!" Arithmetic yelled with the scepter materializing in front of her moments after.

"Pretty Cure, Imperial Dendrite!" Arithmetic cried out as she enclosed the Delinquous in a chunk of ice.

For now, it was unable rendered immobile, but the girls could see that Delinquous was breaking down the ice quite quickly with it's light still turned on.

"It's thawing itself out!" Literature shouted as she saw the ice begin to melt at a strangely rapid rate. Soon enough, the Delinquous broke free and the girls shielded their eyes as the Delinquous threw it's light towards the girls.

"How are we supposed to attack it like this?" Literature shouted while the three of them cautiously took steps back.

Arithmetic dashed over to the Delinquous and made her scepter shape shift in it's sword form," Just don't look at it's light!"

Literature and Science exchanged expressions and shrugged, rushing to Arithmetic's side.

Just before Science was going to unleash her Wondrous Scepter, the Delinquous shone it's light directly above her and she shut her eyes, unsure of what she could do.

"Pretty Cure! Archaic tremor!" History shouted from behind the Delinquous, causing the ground to quake and making everyone except herself fall to their feet.

History landed on her feet in front of her fallen Cures, the Cure clad in yellow still a little hindered from being blinded by the Delinquous.

"Girls, there's a switch on the back of the Delinquous' head." History declared in a whisper as they got up," If we can get to the switch, it won't be able to flash all those stupid lights."

"I'll go." Literature volunteered," Make sure to keep the Delinquous distracted in the meantime."

The Cures did as instructed to and Literature tried climbing up the Delinquous' neck without making it appear that she was heading for the switch. Just before Literature was about to turn off the switch for the Delinquous, Jika shouted to her creation,

"Behind you!"

The Delinquous spun around and threw Literature off it's head and into Cure History.

"Blind them now!" Jika demanded as she pointed to Literature and History, who were struggling to get to their feet. The Delinquous did as told and the two of them were struck by another blinding light.

"Guys!" Science shouted as she and Arithmetic ran for cover, now standing on top of the slide in the playground.

"We'll be fine, just get rid of the Delinquous!" Literature urged as she pressed her hands over hands, hearing History mutter 'Not again'.

Science nodded and she and Arithmetic looked over to the Delinquous, trying to figure out what else they could do.

"Do you think we should try turn it off again?" Science whispered to Arithmetic while the Delinquous glowered down to them.

"It's worth a shot considering it was so protective of it." Arithmetic noted," But we've got to be a little more stealthy this time."

Attentively, Science nodded and the girls leapt from the slide and began to battle the Delinquous again.

Science summoned her scepter and Arithmetic held hers with her hair bun as she fought the Delinquous, punching it relentlessly. The Delinquous was putting up a good fight against the girls, but Arithmetic was quick to notice that this Delinquous was even stronger than the last one. It didn't make much sense to her right now, but she knew now wasn't the time to think about that right now.

Science twirled around her scepter while she yelled," Pretty Cure, Nebula flash!"

An array of violets stars and planets shaped like Saturn emerged from her scepter and went rushing towards the Delinquous, but...they didn't do anything except float around the Delinquous. The Delinquous stared at the pretty little celestial bodies before it in awe while Jika looked at the scene suspiciously.

"What kind of attack is that?" Jika asked quietly as she watched the Delinquous before noticing the girls were now behind the Delinquous," They're right behind you!"

But it was too late, the Delinquous' light had been turned off by the girls and the Delinquous was unable to turn it back on.

Science and Arithmetic leapt off the Delinquous and high-fived as they watched the Delinquous flail around as it tried to reach the light on the back of it's head.

"Now we actually stand a chance." Arithmetic declared as she and Science darted up towards the Delinquous, who began swinging it's long neck around. It was constantly extending and retracting it's neck as the girls fought against it, and while the girls fought the Delinquous, Science came up with a plan.

They split up into two and made the Delinquous extend it's neck in very particular places the resulted in the Delinquous tying it's neck up into a knot.

"I can't watch." Jika wailed before a thought struck her," Delinquous! Draw power from the sun!"

The Delinquous did as told and knocked Arithmetic away with it's head as it flash it's light to her. She landed under the slide in the playground.

Science then cautiously took steps back as the Delinquous cornered her into miniature rock climbing wall in the playground. Awkwardly, she held her scepter over herself with her eyes shut. She wasn't sure of where to aim her scepter and just before she tried attacking she heard Arithmetic shout from behind them.

"Over here!"

The two of them turned to her and saw her standing on top of the jungle-gym with a pair of sunglasses on.

"I thought you got blinded too!" Science cried to Arithmetic, sounding quite confused.

"I faked it and found these under the slide!" Arithmetic explained as she flashed Science a v-sign.

The Delinquous then lunged for Arithmetic, who jumped off the jungle-gym in an instant. The Delinquous, now entangled with the jungle gym, flashed it's light in an irregular fashion, turning it on, then off every few seconds. Science looked at the Delinquous as she walked up towards it, appearing very fed up and shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Galactic Mirage!"

Science's water-based attack managed to make the Delinquous short-circuit and sparks shot out from the Delinquous, with some of them landing onto Science.

"I'll take from here." Arithmetic affirmed, the sunglasses now resting atop of her head and the Delinquous now fried.

"Pretty Cure, Calculating Meltdown!" Arithmetic yelled as she and the Delinquous were transported into a void of blue and silver where the Delinquous was entrapped within what appeared to be a large plus sign.

"I sure hope this lesson will be sure to stick..." Arithmetic chanted as she swayed her scepter around, before pointing it directly before the Delinquous,"...That lesson being, don't ever mess with me, Cure Arithmetic!"

The Delinquous was met with it's demise as a swarm of plus and minus signs appeared to cleanse the Delinquous.

"A-plus!" Arithmetic said with a wink as the Delinquous was purified.

"What happened?" Touko asked groggily as she sat up straight on her bed, seeing Renge, Kanari, Chiyo and Yugure standing in front of her.

"You got stressed out and fainted." Kanari explained very briefly while Touko looked around the room," By the way, you've got guests down-stairs."

"I do?" Touko asked in surprise. She rushed downstairs and saw a bunch of her friends in the living room, sipping tea and eating some of the snacks that she laid out.

"Y-you guys came!" Touko exclaimed joyfully as she rushed down the stairs.

"Well, duh!" One of her friends, a short-haired red head responded as she took a large sip from her cup of tea.

"But, why?" Touko questioned," I thought you all hated Kazuki."

Her friends exchanged glances before the red head gave her a response," I don't think any of us would've expected that you would marry Kazuki of all people. But, we've known you for so long to know that you're a good judge of character, and you wouldn't have married him otherwise. While we may still have our doubts about him, we trust you and wish you the best."

"Yuuka brought ice-cream cake! Wanna try some now?" One of the other girls asked her.

"Yeah, just give me a moment!" Touko declared as the rest of the girls went to the kitchen. Yugure was going to join them, but Touko held her back.

"Yugure right?" Touko asked," I just wanted to say, I hope you'll be able to do what you think is best for you. Don't let anyone govern other your life. Also, if you're ever stuck on something or you're trying to convince your parents to let you go to your dream school or something, just remember; eyes speak louder than words."

Yugure nodded, though she wasn't sure if she knew what Touko meant by that.

"You'll make the right choices, I know you will." Touko beamed.

Later that night, Yugure was sitting on her bed, looking outside her window thinking back to today's events.

"I didn't tell mom and dad about Yozora yet, this is so unlike me...why haven't I told them yet?" Yugure asked her as she looked down at her back yard.

"Not to mention..." Yugure said as she gently touched the necklace that resembled the one she gave Rishi a few days ago,"...I sure hope I do end up making those right choices."


	25. Job searching at it's finest

_"This place..."_ Renge thought to herself, her eye twitching slightly as she looked at the group of her fellow students running over the scene they were assigned to do _,"...Is like a jungle."_

Two boys stood on the 'stage' of room running over lines with their scripts in hand. Some other students on stage were waiting for their cue while others were sitting down, observing the scene. But, there may've been only two people observing the scene as everyone else was instead doing other things including, but not limited to, talking with some other kids, playing on their phones, or in one person's case, reading a book.

"It's been a couple of weeks into the new semester, and everyone seems to have settled into their schedules quite nicely..." Renge thought to herself," Because this club is so loud, it isn't as easy to identify the bigger personalities. But..."

"I say, isn't Kyo- I mean that never do well, late for the party?" One boy read from his script, his voice quite loud. His skin was fair and his hair was jet black and half-shaved. He wore glasses and had blue-green eyes and attracting attention was something he was all too good at.

"You supposed to say ne'er do well." A boy waiting for his cue corrected.

"Ok, ne'er do well late for the party?" The boy said again.

 _...You can still find them. That's Katsuzaki Ryo. He's really loud and quite the character. He's also kinda cute but unfortunately, he can be a total jerk at times, so it inevitably cancels out the cute._

Renge remembered how one time last year she asked him out via a love letter and he read it in front of her and then announced to the class that he had just been confessed to. Never in Renge's life had she been so humiliated. But, she didn't hold it against him as he at least gave her a reason as to why he didn't want to go out with her. That reason being his heart belonged to someone from his hometown, Haruekawa.

For the last few weeks, Ryo had been boasting that he was probably going to get the lead role, just to tease another classmate, Kyo. So, when Ryo did get the main role to everyone's, including his own surprise, Kyo had been pretending to play it cool but most people in the class, including Renge, could sense the boy's resentment of Ryo from a mile away away.

Kyo was so mysterious to Renge, considering he was inhumanly quiet. He generally seemed rather apprehensive of everything. His hair was a very dark brown and his eyes were like amber. Kyo didn't seem to care about a lot of things but one thing was for sure, he cared about the play, despite not being cast as the lead.

The substitute had stepped out of the room for about twenty minutes now and it didn't seem likely he would come back, so the remaining students that didn't skip out on club, just utilized this hour as a free period for themselves.

"I think we should have a Drama club president!" Ryo declared suddenly," At my old school, clubs weren't run by teachers, they were run by the students!"

"That sounds like a fun idea!" Shizuka commented excitedly," We should all vote on who should be president too! Can I run for president?"

"You know what? Forget elections! We can all be president!" Ryo exclaimed as he threw his script up into the air.

Renge looked over to Shinko, the only person reading a book, a giant one at that, in class. Shinko had been giving a smaller role, most of the first years had small roles, and already had her lines memorized.

"Wanna go over lines?" Renge offered, though she wasn't in a single scene with Shinko.

"I guess." Shinko answered as she opened up her script. Renge took a brief glance at Shinko as she looked for a scene to take if from. There may've been only one or two first years with really major roles and it saddened Renge to know Shinko wasn't one of them, considering she loved theater so much. But Shinko said it was fine, as she had a much bigger role in a production out of school, so it was better that she had the minor role here.

After they had finished going over the lines of Shinko's scene, Shinko then offered to go over Renge's scene with her.

"You need the practice more than I do." Shinko pointed out," Not because you're a bad actress or anything, you just have way more lines than me."

Renge agreed with Shinko and the girls then flipped to the page of Renge's first scene. While it genuinely surprised Renge that she had been given a somewhat large role, she couldn't say she didn't see it coming. After all, she did practice very hard for a few weeks and many of the third years were given major roles. Though, quite a few were still surprised by the fact that Ryo managed to obtain the lead role, despite this being his first year in Drama club. Every time Renge wondered how such a think was possible, her brain would automatically think 'upperclassmen privilege' and she would leave at that. But, it wasn't like Ryo wasn't deserving of the role. It was, unexpected as pretty much everyone assumed that Kyo would've been casted as the leading man.

Renge ran lines with Shinko for the remainder of the club, but at least five minutes before they were dismissed, Ryo sat close to Renge and Shinko, talking to the rest of the third years in the class.

"I'm going to get going, don't tell the teacher I left ok?" Shinko whispered as she gathered her things.

"What teacher?" Renge reminded her as she left. Shinko giggled and left the room, going unnoticed by most of the students in the club room.

"It's so hard to rehearse when Ms. Miyano isn't here." Shizuka complained as she stretched her arms out.

"It's even harder to rehearse knowing that I might have to kiss Kanae if you decide to quit the play." Ryo said to Shizuka flatly as he placed his script on the floor.

This club was strange as with every second day, a different class of students would be here and supposedly, they were all going to be apart of the same production, with members of each class getting integrated with others from the other class for their casts. There were two casts so that everyone would have a part. No character was played by one person only and some characters were gender bent. Last year, the class managed to pull together and perform their production quite nicely. But, for some reason, Renge felt like that wasn't going to happen this year. Or, maybe it was just her and the group would get serious by next month.

"I'm only here for the cast party." One boy commented.

That made Renge lose hope again.

"Renge, are you going to come to the cast party?" Ryo asked her after noticing she was listening in on their conversation.

"Um, maybe." Renge said awkwardly with a forced giggle.

Club time was over and before Renge left the class room, Shizuka confronted her.

"Hey, Renge?" Shizuka asked as she tapped her shoulder," Would you like to go over lines with me some time during lunch next week?"

"Sure, I'd love to." Renge answered as she picked up her script and pencil case.

"So, would Monday be alright?" Shizuka asked her as the two exited the room.

"Yeah, I'll see you then!" Renge affirmed as the two parted ways. Shizuka waved to her and Renge went to get her back-pack, feeling quite satisfied with her plans.

"Wow, I've got such a packed schedule. It feels great!" Renge cheered as she exited the school," I've lines to memorize, I've got a column for the Yearbook club to finish up and tomorrow, I get to ride my penny board again! With Manaki's help of course."

When Renge got off her second bus and walked down the street to her house, she felt immensely excited for the next week ahead of her. She also heard her stomach rumble as she walked to her house.

"I guess I better do something about that..." Renge remarked sheepishly as her stomach continued to growl.

"Mama let's make brownies~!" Renge declared joyously as she opened the door to her house.

"Aren't you a little too _old_ for brownies?" She heard a disgustingly familiar voice ask her.

"Oh no..." Renge groaned quietly with a grimace as she frozen for a moment.

The next thing Renge knew, she was sitting in her living room with her mom, her brother and Uncle Fuyuki and Aunt Airi. Renge sat down as usual with her legs crossed on the one-seater in her living-room, feeling a tad annoyed that she wasn't sitting in her spot which was on the left of the two-seater as her aunt was already sitting there.

"Sorry I don't have any tea ready..." Sanae apologized as she focused on pouring water from a pitcher into Fuyuki's cup," The least you could do was tell me you were coming."

Fuyuki narrowed his eyes at her before saying," Well, it wouldn't be a surprise visit then would it? So, Renge how have you been? How are you doing in high-school?"

"Oh I'm doing really good, you know, getting good marks and stuff..." Renge answered stiffly.

"Have you applied to any colleges yet? Have you been accepted anywhere?" Airi asked very quickly, in her usual mildly condescending tone.

"Fuyuki you haven't told me how your trip to Spain last month was!" Sanae chided from the kitchen as she brought out a tray of chips.

As Fuyuki began to answer Sanae's question, Renge let out a small sigh of relief and then excused herself to go to the bath room. Renge shut the bath room door and hid behind the wall beside the head of the stairs as she leaned down to over hear anything they would say in her absence.

"So, what has Renge decided to take next year?" Fuyuki asked.

Renge leaned in closer, so closer that she could of fallen onto the steps had she not been doing this for what felt like years.

"Well, you know she's crazy about art so she's going into Graphic Design." Sanae explained.

There was a small period of silence after Sanae had said that. Renge waited impatiently with bated breath as the silence continued.

"I see. So, that means she's going to study out of the city right?" Fuyuki asked calmly, with Renge feeling as if a storm was about to come.

"No, she'll most likely studying at Ryukawa college, unless she's been applying at other colleges out of city that I don't know about." Sanae answered sheepishly with a rather forced chuckle.

Renge then wondered if now was a good time to go back down-stairs or not. Things were getting good, but they must've gotten somewhat suspicious of her. But chances were, they suspected her of going up to her bedroom to use her computer rather than eavesdrop on them.

"So, does Renge have a job yet?" Airi asked abruptly as the sound of a glass being put onto the table was heard.

"She's been looking but, she hasn't really found anything as of yet." Sanae replied, sounding as if she was wanting to change the subject," It's just so hard to find a part-time job right now."

"You know, I always thought Renge would've been an excellent lawyer." Fuyuki said all of a sudden, causing Renge to groan as she said,

"Here it comes..."

"Her grandmother has always been saying that's she can be very good with arguments and very persuasive. Those are all qualities that are needed in a good lawyer." Fuyuki stated, with Renge rolling her eyes as she heard this.

"Renge's never really showed any interest in being a lawyer." Sanae responded awkwardly.

"But you said a few weeks ago that Journalism was her fallback choice right?" Airi mentioned," The two are somewhat similar if you think about it."

"Maybe Renge should study outside of the city. Perhaps in Tokyo." Fuyuki suggested.

"I don't know, Renge seems pretty comfortable here, and she doesn't like traveling all that much either..." Sanae pointed out.

"It would be a good opportunity for her. She's always been relying on you, even during these past few months since your divorce. It would give her a chance to face the real world." Fuyuki explained with a drop of enthusiasm in his voice.

"She hasn't had that chance yet." Airi pointed out," Going out of city would help her grow up a little and become more responsible."

Renge narrowed her eyes as she heard that, looking rather annoyed as she leaned against the wall.

"She'll be eighteen in two months, correct?" Fuyuki mentioned," This would be such a good experience for her. Just tell her about it and see what's thinks."

Fuyuki and Airi then stood up and Fuyuki said," Well, I'm off to see mom so I'll talk to you some time this week alright?"

Renge then stormed into her room, startling Renny and Topher as she jumped onto her bed, her head swimming.

Renge wanted to punch her pillow so badly but something kept her from doing so as she thought about what she just overheard. She instead heaved in mighty large breath and wrapped her arms and legs around the pillow with her head resting on top of it.

"What happened?" Renny asked as Renge let out a giant sigh.

"My own uncle and aunty think I'm irresponsible. Me, a third-year, seventeen year old high-school student who they rarely speak to and has never done anything that could be considered irresponsible." Renge lamented.

Renny looked at her, and while he wanted to comfort her, he also didn't want to be biased," Well, have you done anything that let them consider you as responsible?"

"Um, I've been a Pretty Cure for a few months now and I've been keeping up with my studies despite all the randomly-timed battles." Renge reminded them with an undertone of irritation in her voice.

Renny and Topher exchanged glances and Topher asked her," Ok, have you done anything that they know about to let them consider you as responsible?"

Renge blinked for a few moments as she tried to think.

"I've got good grades...more or less." Renge stated, still thinking about that terribly low math test grade," I can kinda drive, with an adult in the vehicle. I know the name of things..."

"Renge, please stop this is embarrassing." Renny begged of her.

"Ok, maybe they're onto something. But what can I do? My hands are tied and I don't think I can tell them that I'm too busy saving the Inner Scholars of others to have a job or something." Renge pointed out," But something tells me, this isn't going to be the last of their complaints."

"And besides..." Renge began as she folded her hands behind her head while crashing back onto her other pillow," I'm not _that_ dependent on my mom. Me and Hikaru are home alone like seventy percent of the week and manage to make supper and stuff without her. But, at my age, it seems like that isn't enough for them."

Renge clutched the edge of the pillow tightly and wondered aloud," Does mom think I'm too dependent on her? Maybe it is about time that I get a job, you know, to help her out a bit and maybe even save up for something."

"But what about the Pretty Cure?" Renny questioned, his tone bordering on that of a worried one.

"Well..."Renge began, growing tired of this conversation topic," It's pretty much the only way to get my aunt and uncle off my back about being irresponsible and if people in my own grade, heck, even Chiyo can do it, then why can't I?"

"Well, if you really want to get a job, as long as it doesn't interfere with Pretty Cure, then we won't hold you back." Renny concluded.

"That's what I like to hear." Renge said as she turned on her computer to look at some job ads online.

Jika was asleep, tossing and turning as her brain was infiltrated by dreams that she didn't want to have. They were strange at first, but they filled were with familiar faces as if she had met them before, but she couldn't recall when. Nobody she knew was in her dream and it felt like she was inside the memories of someone else. Every day, this person would go to school on her bike, buy a bottle of grape-fruit juice on her way and talk to a group of students, most of them being boys. In class, she was attentively taking notes as if her life depended on it and never missed a single word written as she wouldn't allow herself to do such a thing. She didn't see the the girl's face for a very very long time, but then, her reflection appeared in a car door mirror that she was looking at herself in. She wore a purple blazer and styled her golden hair with bleach blond ombre into two low pigtails. She winked at her reflection, her grey-blue eyes twinkling while she did this. She then heard somebody calling her name and quickly, she ran towards them.

This girl seemed to live quite the thrilling life. Everyday, she'd studied very very hard as she wanted to be a doctor when she was grown-up, but come Friday night, she was like an entirely different person. A flirtatious girl who loved attention more than anything in the world and acted as if she wouldn't get to see tomorrow.

She seemed to be enjoying this lifestyle a lot and it was actually pleasing Jika to see a girl who was just so happy with life, like nothing could go wrong. She had stellar grades, a bunch of friends and always had a smile on her face no matter what.

For a while, Jika didn't hear the girl say anything for a long time, but finally when a group of bookish looking girls walked past her while glaring, the girl simply rolled her eyes and said to herself.

 _"I may one of the best students in class but that doesn't really mean I'm admired by everyone. Some people don't really like me but hey, you can't please everyone right?" The girl asked herself as she leaned a fence next to the entrance of the school," I prefer to live in the moment, live like I won't see tomorrow."_

A boy then walked up to her. This wasn't the boy she was waiting for, but she still greeted in her most friendly tone ever with her typical flirty undertone accompanying it.

"Hey uh, are you waiting for someone?" The boy asked.

"Yes." The girl responded tonelessly when her phone rang all of a sudden. She answered it quickly and said hello.

"Oh, your car broke down? Well, I guess if you really wanted to...we could hang out some other time?" The girl offered into the phone cautiously with a slow shrug of her shoulders," Ok, I'll talk to you later."

"Well, I'm not waiting for anyone anymore, why?" The girl asked quickly as she hung up her phone.

"I was just curious because well...I've been wanting to hang out with you for a few weeks now. That's not weird is it?" The boy asked.

The girl looked at the boy with this coy look in her eye and answered," No not at all. I'd love to hang out."

The girl and boy walked together together to a cafe near to the school and during the walk, the boy tried making small talk and the girl listened attentively while laughing at all the jokes he made. The two of them walked past the cafe without even noticing and were close to a somewhat dark alley. Then, there was nothing left to see. Everything went black in the dream and not a single sound could be heard. It felt eerie, as if the girl was gone. All of those things that Jika saw playing through her dream, memories bustling through her mind, weren't showing up anymore, like she had seen everything of this girl's life story from start to finish.

Jika woke up immediately from the dream, breathing heavily and touching the sides of her face as she tried to make sense of the dream. Usually, she never slept, she was told she didn't need to sleep by Temptasia, but after all that searching for the book she had just done, she thought some rest would do her some good. Not knowing it do would quite the opposite.

Jika's hands gripped her aching chest and she hung her head as she questioned aloud," Why did that girl sound just like me?"

On Saturday morning, Renge woke up very early and tip-toed towards her computer chair where she laid out the outfit she planned to where today. The goal for today's look was to appear classy, but not too classy. Like she wasn't just some average teenager who wanted a job. No, the goal was to depict herself as a mature, dependable, and fine young individual to hire. And even though she knew how she dressed was going to get her a job, she at least hoped she appeared was going to be factored into the decision of whether or not she should be hired; considering she did take pride in how she looked for today's job hunt. A simple white and black sheer blouse was worn by Renge under a dainty carmine blazer with sleeves that came to her forearms. She wore black jeans and was currently applying eyeliner, cheering silently as she noticed how much her technique had improved since September.

As she screwed on the top of her eyeliner bottle on, Renny and Topher awoke and looked at her sleepily with Topher asking,

"Are you going to search for the book Acumen today?"

"Oh, I didn't even think of that!" Renge blurted out, while hoping she didn't wake anyone in her house while saying that," I probably will. Are you guys going to come with me?"

Renny and Topher nodded as Renge looked over to her small collection of lipstick, trying to decide with shade she should wear today.

"I've worn this shade nearly every day this week, this one is only for special occasions and this one..." Renge held up a square tube, opening it to reveal the colour to be an intense purple," I mean, I want their attention, but I don't want strangers staring at me today either. Guess I'll just have to go with my trusty Berry Smooch."

Renge applied the cheap lipstick while looking into the mirror of her closet door while Renny asker her," Are the girls still coming today?"

Renge nodded after putting the the top of the lipstick tube back on as she put on a black cameo necklace with a rose on it," Surprisingly, yes."

"Why surprisingly?" Renny asked as Renge buttoned up her blazer.

"Um, well...I wasn't expecting them to want to come along as I did plan to go early morning. Plus, I didn't even mentioning searching for Acumen, so with that being said, I know they aren't coming out of obligation." Renge explained as she smiled down to pendant of the necklace in her hands as she thought about last night when she asked the girls.

Awkwardly, Renge brought up the question she had be wanting to ask the girls in their group chat. Even though they were her friends, she had this sinking feeling that they would all be too busy or just not wanting to come. She wondered how bad it was going to look in the group chat when everyone rejected her offer.

To her genuine surprise, everyone actually said they would come. Renge scrolled her thumb over the screen countless times to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. No tricks, everyone said they would come.

Renge decided to be relaxed about this and thought to herself _,"Of course they'd want to come."_

But then she foolishly sent a message that read," _Seriously?"_

Renge's phone then rang after she sent that message, seeing that everyone had read it.

Before she answered the call, she saw Chiyo's message that read _," Well, yeah."_ and Yugure's that said, _" Of course!"_

Renge arched a brow curiously as she saw Kanari's name appearing at the top of her screen while the phone rang.

"Hello?" Renge said slowly as she squinted at the phone screen, having put the call on speaker.

"Because I honestly feel like you're aren't going to believe me when I just type it in the group chat, I'll just say it to you like this. Yes, we all seriously want to go with you." Kanari affirmed for her," And before you ask why, it's because you're a lot more fun than you think."

Renge wanted to say something, a response of thanks to be precise, but the words failed to come to her. She didn't expect herself to be speechless but she felt as if she screwed up any sentence she'd say right now after receiving such a compliment. She nodded but then realized Kanari wasn't going to see that and immediately sputtered out,

"Thanks! I needed to hear that."

She hung up and looked at her phone with a smile full of relief on her face.

Renge carefully placed a stack of resumes kept within a clear blue folder into her purse and tip-toed downstairs with Renny and Topher following her.

"Mom leaves for work in an hour and Hikaru doesn't wake up until like ten." Renge declared in a whisper," So I'm just going to have breakfast and then we'll head out soon."

Renge had breakfast and soon enough, she and the two birds stuffed into her bags went out with Renge walking in a clunky manner with high heels on.

"Heel, toe. Heel, toe." Renge reminded herself as she walked across the street, praying that the heels of her feet wouldn't blister up after wearing these shoes for too long.

"So, Renge where do you plan on applying to?" Topher asked as popped his head out of the bag for a moment.

Renge made sure there was no one around to reply to him once she got the bus stop and opened up her notes application on her phone.

"Mostly places by Ozawa station." Renge said as she scrolled down the page," And, if I'm really up for it, I'll hand out some applications and the mall next to the school." Renge answered as she put her phone back into her pocket.

"Can we see your resume?" Renny requested from inside the bag as the bus arrived.

"Um, maybe another time." Renge answered sheepishly before she got onto the the bus.

Once Renge got off the bus after about seven minutes, she looked around for the girls, wondering if they had arrived yet. It was likely they hadn't as she came earlier than she planned and so, one by one the girls came.

"I forgot what it was like to wake up early on a Saturday..." Kanari mumbled as she stretched out her arms.

"How many resumes do you have on you today?" Chiyo questioned.

"More than enough." Renge replied as she retrieved a literal stack of resumes enclosed in the folder from inside her bag.

The amount pretty much shocked all the girls, with Chiyo asking aloud," Are they're even that many stores you could apply to today?"

Renge shrugged as motioned the girls to follow her.

"So, why'd you pick Ozawa district to apply to?" Yugure asked as Renge led the group, inspecting each and every resume to make sure it was without any unwanted marks or crumples.

"I figured the chances of me getting hired would've been greater since I live so close. Plus, it is a somewhat busy place." Renge responded, looking around at groups of people walking around, despite it being only ten in the morning,"There's a bunch of cafes here too and I've seen a few teens working at Estrella as well."

"Makes me kinda wish the Happy Clock was still here~" Yugure sighed as she thought about those delicious crepes she and Renge had at the cafe.

"Anyways..." Renge declared, directing her attention at a coffee shop with a help wanted sign on the window," Let's try here!"

Renge and the girls took a deep breath of relief as they walked into the coffee shop, feeling themselves warm up quite nicely after stepping out of the cold. The coffee shop had a unique, welcoming atmosphere to it with the inviting smell of brewed coffee filling the girls' lungs. They were quite a few people inside the coffee shop, most of them on their laptops and taking advantage of the free WiFi the shop had to offer with their cups of coffee at their side.

"But I'm impressed Renge, you don't even seem nervous." Kanari noted as she took a quick glance of Renge.

Renge rolled her eyes while saying," _Please._ I've done this a bunch of times. Worst that could happen is that they don't call back."

The group saw a girl close to their age, maybe a couple years older, behind the cash register. She smiled to the girls as Renge walked up to her.

After she was only inches away from the girl, Renge's calm, collected disposition was diminished upon looking at the girl at the register. She felt her palms get all clammy and her heart started jolting. Renge held eye contact and said in a tone that she hoped would be registered as, 'I'm the help to your want.'

"I'm here to apply for a job." Renge said, while silently begging that she didn't sound too cocky or pushy. Renge handed the woman her resume and the woman looked over it.

As the woman asked Renge what times she was available for, the girls looked at her seeming a bit impressed.

"I'm surprised she didn't get tongue-tied." Chiyo remarked, holding Renge's bag with Renny and Topher inside.

"It really did look like she was going to freeze up huh?" Yugure stated sheepishly with a giggle as Renge ordered a beverage.

Renge returned to the group with a frozen hot chocolate in hand as she led the girls outside. Renge then held the cup out to Kanari, who seemed both eager and confused as she stared at the drink.

"Why are you giving it to me?" Kanari asked cautiously," Did the barista spit in it?"

"No. I just don't wanna carry the drink around if I'm going to try and apply to other places." Renge explained, holding the drink closer to Kanari.

Kanari took it with no further questions asked while Yugure interrogated," Then why did you buy the drink in the first place?"

Renge laced her hands together and folded at the back of her head, walking backwards as she responded," I wanna get considered don't I?"

The girls exchanged expressions and they continued to walk the streets of Ozawa district.

For the rest of the morning, Renge relentlessly continued to hand out as many resumes as she possibly could to each and every store she could find. Varying from restaurants to convenience stores, Renge covered them all. And by then, each of the girls had a drink or meal purchased by Renge for them, with Renge beginning to ask the girls what each of them wanted before she went in.

"How do you even have all this money?" Kanari questioned with a yawn, holding a veggie wrap in one hand.

"Um, Christmas?" Renge responded, as if she felt it was unnecessary for her to answer such a foolish question.

"Who spends all their Christmas money on food?" Kanari questioned, her eyes narrowed as she looked at Renge who was still leading the group.

"You're looking at her." Renge responded as they arrived at yet another coffee shop.

"So...who wants coffee?" Renge asked as she spun around to face the girls.

Chiyo and Yugure shook their heads while Kanari muttered," I'm full."

Renge then sighed and declared," Ok, well...since you guys did come all this way with me, you can just relax here while I hand in the resume."

The girls sat on a curved bench and watched as Renge went into the coffee shop to hand in a resume.

"Maybe Renge can apply to Super Smoothies!" Yugure suggested excitedly as she looked over to Chiyo," Are there any openings?"

"I don't really think there are as of right now." Chiyo answered," But it's worth the inquiry."

Renge took a deep breath as she looked around the cafe, having been here quite a few times already, particularly during the summer.

By now, Renge was a whole lot less nervous about handing in a resume and greeted the barista with a genuine and cheery smile.

"Hi, I'm here to apply for a job." Renge said, remains of nervousness managing to creep up into her tone," Could I also get a tall caramel frappuccino?"

The barista looked at the application that Renge handed to her, her eyes narrowed while she scanned the resume as she calculated the cost of Renge's order.

"Your order will be ready over there." The barista stated, extending her hand to her right as her free hand tapped suspiciously at the corners of Renge's resume.

Renge walked over to the other side to the small waiting area for her drink and after about two minutes or so, the barista arrived with a drink in hand for her. Before Renge took the drink from the barista, the barista motioned her to lean in and whispered to her saying,

"I think you'd be better off trying elsewhere."

Renge arched an eyebrow and asked her," Why is that?"

"Not many places hire high-school students with limited experience." The barista answered as she scanned Renge's resume once more.

"Any reason as to why?" Renge asked, her tone bordering on a nervous, almost frantic one as she slowly took her coffee from off the table.

"Teens get a bad rap, most managers I know don't really like the idea of hiring students in high-school with really limited experience because of how irresponsible some of them can be." The barista explained with a shrug," Well, have a good day."

Renge stared down at her cup for quite a few moments, her eyes fixated on the delicious-looking whipped cream drizzled with caramel sauce and her mind elsewhere.

She exited the coffee shop and reached for a copy of her resume inside her bag, having Renny and Topher left behind with the girls. She really didn't have a stellar resume, with only tutoring kids during second year as her sole bit of volunteer experience. But, was there anything else she could've done?

Renge approached the girls, noticing Kanari was on the phone with someone and Chiyo quietly asked her," So how'd it go?"

"It could've been better." Renge answered with a slight shrug, sitting down next to Kanari as she talked into the phone.

"Sure, we'll be there!" Kanari declared before she filled Renge in on what they we're going to do," See you then."

"Where are we going to be?" Renge questioned as she began to sip her coffee.

"Sayaka says her employer's looking to recruit some people, maybe she can recruit you!" Kanari exclaimed.

"Really? Kanari, that's great!" Renge beamed as she hugged Kanari," How are we going to get there?"

"We'll just have to take the bus." Kanari answered as she stood up, now leading the the group to the nearby bus stop.

Kanari led them all to a place that felt very close to the outskirts of town, with few buildings save for two or three in the vicinity. The area seemed new and there was quite a bit of construction going on around the streets as the girls got off the bus.

"Sakana-Shinju Crescent?" Chiyo said aloud as they hopped off the bus while looking at a street sign," I don't even think I've ever heard of this place before."

"There it is!" Kanari shouted triumphantly as she pointed directly at a building in the far-off distance.

The girls entered the building soon enough after a ten minute walk and saw a woman at the front desk, who eyed the girls in a rather suspicious manner.

"Can I help you ladies?" She asked the girls as they walked up to her.

"We're here to see Mizukage Sayaka." Kanari stated as she folded her arms over the desk.

"I'll page her right away." The woman responded tonelessly as she pressed a button on the panel near her keyboard, _" Mizukage Sayaka, to the front desk please."_

A unusually sharp-dressed Sayaka walked up to the girls in heels effortlessly, looking like a complete stranger to her own little sister. Despite this, Kanari was impressed with what she saw, even if there wasn't any trace of goth to her outfit.

"Hey guys, glad you were able to find the place." Sayaka said with a warm smile that made Kanari feel even more unfamiliar with her sister," Follow me, I'll show you around."

Sayaka led the girls to a giant office, filled with cubicles where employees were working away busily. The environment seemed rather generic to the rest of the girls, but to Renge, it was perfect. But, before she got too excited, she remembered that one crucial thing she really needed if she wanted a job here.

"What kind of job experience do I need here?" Renge asked Sayaka, holding back a small pout.

"You don't require any actually." Sayaka answered as she continued to lead the group.

"Really?!" Renge blurted out, clamping her mouth shut after doing so.

"Yeah, they'll employ anyone. But there's a catch." Sayaka mentioned as they arrived to her cubicle, which was painfully plain unlike herself," You need to be eighteen or older and have a high-school diploma. Sorry if I got your hopes up, but I was thinking it may've been of interest for you since you're graduating pretty soon and your birthday's in April."

"Oh,I see." Renge responded, trying to veil her disappointment as Sayaka's phone on her desk rang all of a sudden.

"Mizukage Sayaka speaking, how can I help you?" Sayaka asked," Oh, hi Miss Fujiyoshi. No, everything's fine. Yeah, I did find someone but they won't be able to work until a couple of months from now. Huh, you want to interview her now? Well, ok, I'll send her to your office right now. Alright bye."

"So Renge, do you think you could manage an interview today?" Sayaka as after hanging up the phone.

"An interview? You mean like, right now?" Renge probed, Sayaka nodding vigorously as a form of response.

"My boss' office is located is the neighboring building. Just ask for Miss Fujiyoshi ok?" Sayaka said," Good luck."

Renge nodded and felt her heart begin to race all over again. She hated the fact that she was internally freaking out over this as she did hand out all those applications today in hopes that it would lead to a job. The idea of an interview was supposed to excite her, encourage her, but instead it mutilated her into a nervous wreck.

Just before the group approached the door of the neighboring building, Kanari placed a hand Renge's shoulder and in a reassuring tone,

"You'll be fine. Just be be yourself."

The girls then walked into the building that was much less populated than the one Sayaka was working in. The girls sat at the waiting area near the windows and Renge walked up to the front desk. The woman at the front desk pointed to a door that led to Miss Fujiyoshi's office. With a deep breath, Renge walked towards the door and knocked nervously.

"Come in." A voice said from behind the door.

"Hi..." Renge said as she entered the room. Behind the desk was where Miss Fujiyoshi was assumingly sitting. Assumingly because the back of the woman's large chair was facing Renge. Renge said nothing regarding this and sat down on the seat in front of Ms Fujiyoshi's desk.

"So, Ms Mizukage tells me you're looking for a job in the near future. Correct, Miss Kotori?" Ms Fujiyoshi stated, the back of her chair still facing Renge.

"Yeah...just so I can save up some money, be less of a burden to my mom and stuff..." Renge explained, secretly hoping she wasn't sound too needy,"Um, I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything, but why'd you want to have an interview with me? I'm only seventeen and still in high-school."

"Ms Mizukage tells me those conditions about to change soon as you're graduating soon and have a birthday coming up. And, since she was to one to refer you, one of my newer employees, I thought we could register you for today and so when the time comes when you're eligible to work here, we can call you immediately and have you start right away." Ms Fujiyoshi explained.

"Wow, that's really nice of you guys." Renge remarked, taking out her resume from her bag," Would you like to see my resume?"

"Of course." Miss Fujiyoshi answered as Renge slipped the paper onto her desk, staring intently at the back of Miss Fujiyoshi's chair, wondering if she was going to show her face anytime during this interview.

"You tutored students in your second year of high-school?" Miss Fujiyoshi said as she read over Renge's resume," Interesting. Also, you don't have any extra-curriculars, like clubs or anything right now would you? Because I also know of a few part-time places down the street ready to hire anyone."

"No, not at all..." Renge answered, despite being aware of the fact that she had the Drama production and all those lines to memorize.

"Well, we do have other job opportunities outside of the office, perhaps I could give you a tour of the warehouse inside?" Miss Fujiyoshi offered.

"Ok, of course!" Renge replied as she got up quickly, Miss Fujiyoshi's phone ringing as she did so.

"I have to take this, I'll meet you there in a few minutes. Just go up to the desk and tell them Miss Fujiyoshi gave you permission to enter." Miss Fujiyoshi instructed. Renge nodded, though Miss Fujiyoshi of course didn't see it and walked out of her office.

The inside of the warehouse was strangely empty, though it wasn't as strange to see it empty after one took the fact of it being break time to consideration. Not a single soul in sight on the floor of the warehouse, but there were at least two people within it. Zephora floated above the warehouse, waiting impatiently for Renge to come and Rishi sat on the highest level of the blue and orange structures inside the warehouse.

Jika then appeared in the center of the warehouse, arms crossed as she glanced over to the door of the warehouse, declaring," Any second now." She then conjured up the crumpled sphere in her hands and brought out an Inner Scholar she had obtained earlier. She threw the Inner Scholar onto a small scanning device nearby and shouted while pointing to the scanner," Run amok, Delinquous!"

"Delinquous!" The monstrous scanner bellowed.

"Thanks letting me-Agh!" Renge screamed as she saw the Delinquous along with Jika at the center of the warehouse.

"How nice of you to make it, Miss Kotori." Jika remarked.

Renge's pupil shrunk, upset and surprised by the fact that Jika was Miss Fujiyoshi. She took out her pen and shouted out,

"Pretty cure, study session!"

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

"Hm, I wonder why Miss Fujiyoshi wanted to interview despite Renge being under aged." Yugure wondered with Topher in her lap.

Before anyone could even try to answer that question, they all heard the roar of a Delinquous from inside the warehouse. Instinctively, they all ran to the door of the warehouse, but the woman at the desk didn't allow them in.

"Now how are we supposed to get in?" Kanari shouted with her arms crossed. Chiyo then noticed a large truck driving off towards the back of the building from the window.

"Follow me." She instructed as she ran outside.

"This needs to get done today, it absolutely has to! I can't even think about wasting another second! Otherwise..."

The Delinquous raised it's hand and attempted to crush Literature, but the Cure clad in red was too quick. She leapt up and landed on a table, looking warily over at it. The Delinquous the tried scanning her with some avail, blinding her momentarily in the process. Literature then stumble backwards and lost her balance, falling off the table as the Delinquous tried once more to crush her.

Literature opened her eyes, straining herself a little as she did so and conjured up her scepter.

"Appear! Ardent Scepter!" Literature shouted as the red scepter materialized into her hands. Jika then appeared to be very alarmed, flailing her arms around while trying to point to Cure Literature to get the Delinquous' attention.

"Knock it out of her hands!" Jika demanded, jumping up and down in panic.

The Delinquous did as told as Literature darted up to her and pushed her backwards, resulting in her tossing the scepter up into the air.

"That was close..." Jika remarked with a breath of relief as Literature fell to the ground, now trying to scurry back up to her feet as the Delinquous began to corner her.

Zephora and Rishi continued spectate the battle above, with the former wondering aloud," Is she trying to steal her scepter?"

"It's a possibility." Rishi responded vacantly as they continued to watch the battle.

Just before the Delinquous struck Cure Literature, a voice that sounded like Cure History's shouted out," Not so fast!"

Literature spun around and saw the rest of the of the Cures standing in front of the opened loading dock.

"Making a fool of our friend who desperately wants a job is without a doubt unacceptable!" History declared valiantly as the group came to her side.

"She couldn't put any nicer than that huh?" Literature remarked under her breath with her eyes narrowed. She then making a run to get her scepter which had fallen a few feet behind her, but Jika was too quick to notice for her to do so.

"Get that scepter! Get it!" Jika cried, pointing at Literature again.

Literature did manage to get the scepter, but then the Delinquous tried to lunge for her.

"Pretty Cure, Storming Legend!" History shouted, causing the Delinquous to recoil it's hand upon getting hit with the attack.

Literature then leapt up into the air with the scepter held up high and yelled," Pretty Cure, Enchantress Whirlwind!"

The Delinquous staggered backwards and fell onto a crate of boxes. It then trembled back onto it's feet and saw Arithmetic running straight up towards it with her scepter, now transformed into the sword, in hand.

"Delinquous, press F1 on your keyboard!" Jika commanded hastily. The Delinquous did as told and it's right arm turned into an enormous sword. The Delinquous held it's sword hand in front of itself and fended off Arithmetic with it. Arithmetic was getting pushed down to her feet from the weight of sword but continued to try and push the sword away from herself.

"Pretty Cure, Nebula flash!" Science cried from behind them. A group of lilac and violet stars came rushing towards the two of them and suddenly, they bursted apart. The startled Delinquous took a hold of Science's leg as it jumped and flung her to the other side of the warehouse.

"Shoot! Pretty Cure, Geometric frenzy!" Arithmetic shouted as she sent a octagon-shaped platform rushing to catch Science. Science was flung through an opening in the blue and orange structure while the platform was flying towards her a level under the one she was thrown to. But, the platform was too quick and missed her, crashing straight into a beam and shattering apart. Science screamed and Rishi caught her.

Science was then pulled up to the skid where Rishi was sitting on. Science's heart was racing and she wasn't too sure why as she caught her breath.

Finally, she said," You didn't have to do that."

"Well, even if you didn't want me to, I still did anyways." Rishi replied. Science sighed and shook her head, returning to the battle.

Literature had just cornered the Delinquous, the monstrous scanner having just entrapped History and Arithmetic in a box that they were wearing down at a unfortunately slow rate with their attacks. Scepter in hand, she was using her talisman as a pointer stick as she stomped up to the Delinquous.

"That is no way to treat my friends!" Literature shouted furiously," Especially when they've donated their time today to accompany me in trying to find a job!"

"Like you could ever get a job." Jika scoffed, now sitting on a nearby desk.

"I could too!" Literature retorted as she sent a plethora of punches into the Delinquous.

"You don't honestly believe that." Jika informed her," Delinquous F3 now!"

The Delinquous did as told once again and flashed a bright ray in front of her. Literature wasn't sure of what was going on, but all of a sudden, she began saying things she would've never wished to say in front of people.

"It's true, I don't think anyone will ever hire me such a shoddy resume!" Literature confessed, hanging her head in shame," And I don't think I'm fit for the part of Regine in the play either!"

Literature clamped her mouth shut with her two hands, her eyes now downcast after unwillingly blurting out the truth.

"Is that you want a job so much? So you don't have to be in the play?" Science asked, not in an accusing manner, but more out of concern.

"No! I just want to take on more responsibilities, even though lately I've been feel no more mature than I was since September..." Literature admitted with a sigh. Wallowing in her sorrows, Literature hadn't notice the Delinquous trying to grab her again, so History knocked it away from her.

"You know...it's not easy for us to notice the change in ourselves. It takes us longer than other people, who have noticed it far before we have." History pointed out as she brushed off her dress," And you did mention that the barista said that most places wouldn't hire you with a resume like yours. But, she didn't say _all_ places correct?"

"Yeah...she didn't." Literature confirmed, feeling a little more hopeful now.

"And...um, I have a feeling that your Drama teacher must've given the role of Regine for a very good reason if she's such a big role." Science reasoned," I think you've been selling yourself."

Arithmetic darted up towards the Delinquous and slashed it up in it's center, and looked over to Literature while saying," See? You're better than you think."

Literature double-blinked in disbelief as she looked over to her fellow Cures. She would've never thought that her friends actually would stand up for her like this, but she wasn't complaining. She tried to recall the last time she had a moment like this in her life, but she came up with nothing.

She glared at the Delinquous and stormed to it, conjuring up her scepter in her left hand.

"I guess you were right about me feeling completely helpless in all I've been trying to do as of lately..." Literature declared,"...but, if all of my friends, who are supporting me every step of the way are telling me that I'm a better person than I think I am, then who am I to disagree with them?"

Literature called the girls over to her side and they worked as a team to defeat the Delinquous, throwing the large beast into another stack of crates one after the other.

"I may still incredibly doubtful in myself and abilities but as long as I have these guys by my side, I'm not going to let anything slow me down!" Literature shouted as she sent an arrow into the Delinquous' chest while conjuring up a tornado in the process. The Delinquous fell flat on it's face, unable to move an inch and Literature smirked as she reverted her arrow back into the scepter.

"Pretty Cure, Mage's story!" She shouted.

Literature and the Delinquous were transported to a void of pink and red with hearts all around them. The Delinquous was currently trapped inside a large red heart and Literature twirled her scepter around while reciting,

"I'm sorry my friend that they have made you impure, but once I'm done with you you'll be good as new by the power of awe-striking literature!"

The Delinquous was seized by what appeared to be a million hearts within the larger heart and was purified.

The Inner Scholar was just about to return to it's owner but Jika wasn't ready to admit defeat just yet and was shaking with anger as she looking at the girls.

"Jika just what on earth are you doing?" Zephora asked out of pity for her fellow denizen as she and Rishi watched her.

"It's only a matter of time now..." Rishi stated with little interest as he glanced over to Jika.

"Why do you have this undying desire to grow up? Why would you want to throw away these fleeting years you have left?!" Jika finally shouted.

Literature looked at her in surprise, speechless as she stared at her," Well...because we need to grow up?"

"No, you're trying to grow up too fast! You'll regret it soon! You'll regret it more than anything in the whole wide world!" Jika declared," One day you're going to wake up and become a, a teacher and hate your life and envy all those youngsters around you because you rushed yourself into adulthood! You're going to hate yourselves because you made such a mistake! But you know what? None of that even matters anymore! Nothing will matter to you girls when I'm through with you!"

Jika raised her hand up high conjuring up another chrome sphere, with the other hand on her chest. Zephora and Rishi looked at her in shock while the clock girl held her chest tightly.

Jika screamed,"Run amok, Delinquo-!"

"That's enough." Temptasia's voice echoed throughout the room. The room went quiet as Temptasia's heels clacked against the concrete floor. The room went dark, but not pitch black as Temptasia came into view in front of Jika.

"T-t-t-t-t-t-temptasia! Um, just what brings you here?" Jika sputtered as she shrunk down a little while she looked at Temptasia.

Temptasia shut her eyes for a long moment and said," Get her Vice."

Vice then appeared behind Jika and grabbed her while Jika began to scream, begging for forgiveness to the remorseless Temptasia.

"Temptasia don't you think I deserve better than this? Please, look at all I've done for you! Please Temptasia please!" Jika pleaded as Temptasia chanted something that sound like Latin in a low voice.

"Ruminatio." Temptasia finally said before the three of them disappeared, Jika's scream filling the room. Everyone looked at the spot where the three of them were quietly. No one said a word the entire time, but soon everyone left the warehouse.

Chiyo said softly as they walked out of the building,"Without a doubt..."

"...Temptasia really is ruthless." Yugure finished, her eyes downcast.

"But now I can't help but wonder..." Kanari trailed arms folded behind her head as she continued to walk.

Renge stopped walking to collect her thoughts and finally asked," What did she do to Jika?"


	26. Check and mate

Running to the bus stop tinted Shinko's typically pale beige face a bright pink as she tried to catch the bus at the stop. If only the light hadn't turned green, if only the school wasn't this far away from the bus stop she thought to herself. If only it wasn't the weekend and the bus ran on it's regular schedule. The bus went without her and and Shinko stopped running, placing her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

"Great, now I'm going to have to wait here for half an hour!" Shinko groaned as she sat herself down on the bench next to the stop in frustration. Her heavy breathing didn't died down for a few more minutes as she waited for the bus, and she began to look off into the distance in hopes of some off-schedule bus showing up.

"But what if that off-schedule bus were to take me to another dimension?" Shinko thought aloud absently. Realizing she said this aloud, she reddened a bit and looked to see if anyone was around. She saw a familiar figure walking across the street to the bus-stop and narrowed her eyes at them.

"Is that... Nao?" Shinko wondered quietly as they walked closer to the bus stop. She blinked a few times as she tried to confirm her guess and once the figure was only a couple of feet away, she found out her guess was correct.

"Hi Nao!" Shinko greeted in a friendly voice as Nao got closer to the bus stop.

"Hey Shinko." Was all Nao said quietly as he looked to see if the bus was coming.

 _"Hm, I guess I should try and make conversation or something with him..."_ Shinko thought to herself as she looked over Nao who was paying little attention to her," So, what brings you here?"

 _"That's such a stupid question, pull yourself together Shinko!"_ She then immediately thought to herself.

"I'm going to Frozen Flurries with some of my friends." Nao answered tonelessly as he looked at the bus schedule beside the bench Shinko was sitting on.

"Oh, that's the frozen yogurt place right? That sounds like fun." Shinko commented cheerfully," I just came to the school because I wanted to rehearse my lines for the school play this weekend, only...I had forgotten my script at school. So I came all this way just to get it."

"All this way?" Nao repeated, his eyes narrowed.

"Well, I guess it's not as far as I made it sound. I live a little past Ozawa station." Shinko responded as the bus came.

The two of them got on the bus, Shinko getting on first. There weren't many seats open and there was only a pair of empty seats beside each other available in the front. Shinko chose to sit there.

 _"I wonder if Nao will sit beside me..."_ Shinko thought as she sat onto the seat. She looked over to Nao, who did end up deciding to sit beside her. Shinko seemed rather surprised at this gesture, but didn't question it considering it only made sense he would sit next to her as there were barely any seats left in the bus.

 _"This means I gotta start making more conversation doesn't it?"_ Shinko thought to herself. Normally, Shinko never fretted about making conversation with somebody. But, Nao was...a special case. They were familiar enough with each to say hello, but...Shinko wasn't too sure of what she would be able to talk about with him considering they had seldom spoke to each other in art club and their sole mutual friend was Renge. Wait a minute!

"So,do you have any clubs or anything with Renge?" Shinko asked _," Oh wait, she's already in both of my clubs."_

"No, I don't." Nao answered in a tone Shinko nearly registered as bitter.

"Ok. She's in my Drama and Yearbook club. It's funny, she never really struck me as an actress, but she's isn't half-bad. I remember one time when I was in middle school and Renge was a first-year in high-school she's always seemed very shy. And then her class was holding a haunted house for culture fest and she was supposed to be a scary version of Snow White, but she actually seemed scared of some of the 'guests'." Shinko replied with a giggle.

Nao smiled a small smile after Shinko told him that.

"I guess those days are behind her now. Since she's a lot less shy around people. She's also been pretty busy lately. I guess that pretty much comes with being a third-year." Shinko remarked,"Well, to me she seems busy as a couple of weeks ago she had asked our Yearbook teacher to be excused twenty minutes early as she some appointment to go to. But, then two days later, she gave me a few other kids in our Yearbook club chocolates for Valentine's day. I'm guessing that's just her being good at time management."

Nao did nothing more than nod as he listened before noticing his stop was coming up.

"I'll see you later." Nao said in a mildly awkward tone as he stood up. Shinko waved good-bye to him and off the bus he went.

He got off the bus, taking note of the fact that no one was around, giving a certain someone, or rather, something, to finally emerge from it's hiding spot.

"I wish you wouldn't do that~" A grey little creature with green eyes said to Nao as it stretched it's little arms.

"Well I wish you wouldn't come and bother me whenever you please." Nao countered in a deadpan tone as he walked to the other bus stop.

"You never considered my appearances as bothersome when you were in middle-school." The creature said to him," Back then, you enjoyed seeing me and we would always talk about video games and movies. And we used to even talk about Koko-!"

"Times have changed." Nao interrupted indifferently as he began to try and ignore the creature's presence though he knew it was inevitable.

"You also said you would give me a name, remember?" The creature reminded him.

Nao stopped walking for a moment and drew out a long sigh," You won't ever stop bothering me about that huh? Well, fine. Your name is...Haku."

Haku smiled a little after being given a name after so many years, despite only making a return to the outside world as of quite recently. Haku then hid inside Nao's hood as he saw a tall, muscular boy who seemed to be a year older than Nao coming their way. The boy bumped into Nao and Nao ended up tripping and falling due to both the boy's push and the slippery surface under him.

Nao shut his eyes and when he opened them, everything seemed a little blurry.

"Where did my glasses go?" Nao asked as he felt around blindly for them. He felt the leg of his glasses and picked them up quickly, only to find that one of the lens had been cracked.

"I think that boy stepped on them." Haku commented as Nao looked at his glasses blankly.

"I bet he didn't even realize he stepped on them and thought he just cracked the ice..." Nao thought aloud cynically," Well, a tough looking guy bumps into a scrawny nerd and makes him trip, resulting in him having his glasses fall off his face, as if I haven't heard of that before. What a cliché."

"So are you still going to Frozen Flurries?" Haku asked him.

"Might as well." Nao said with a shrug as he delicately stowed his glasses away into his bag.

"Frozen yogurt brings me such an indescribable joy~" Renge declared as she took a gigantic spoonful from her cup.

"Renge, I'm pretty sure all foods bring you an indescribable joy." Kanari commented, her eyes narrowed as she stirred her yogurt around in her cup.

"But frozen yogurt brings me the most joy~" Renge crooned as a large smile appeared on her face before she devoured the spoonful of yogurt.

"Renge are you sure you want to pay for all of us?" Chiyo asked cautiously while poking her yogurt.

"Absolutely!" Renge declared," It's the least I can do for you guys since you did come with me to Sunshine Grill."

"I'm just glad you finally got a job." Chiyo responded with a smirk.

Renge took another large spoonful of her frozen yogurt before responding," Me too."

It had been a couple of weeks since that incident with Jika and last week, Renge saw a help wanted sign at a fast food place in the mall next door to the school. She felt like it was a long shot, trying to apply at a restaurant in the mall where there were likely dozens of students from the school that were going to apply as well. But, with the support of her friends, Renge figured that the least she could do was try.

 _"Hi, my name is Kotori Renge and I'm here to apply for a job. I see you've been wanting help." Renge said as she pointed to the help wanted sign shyly._

 _"Ah, yes we have." The woman working the register says in a friendly voice," Do you have a resume on you?"_

 _Renge then quickly pulls out her resume from her bag and hands it to the woman while offering her most genuine smile. The woman scans over her resume in a couple of seconds then looks over to Renge. Many students had already applied to work here and she had only hired two new people as of right now and now she felt like she had found her third new employee of the week. It wasn't really like Renge had anything on her resume that made her stand out from the rest of the others, it was really just something about her that the woman liked._

 _"When can you start?" The woman asked her._

 _"As early as you want me." Renge blurts out, before realizing how embarrassingly desperate that sounded._

 _The woman laughed and simply said," Alright, you got the job."_

Renge took a final spoonful from her cup and said," So far, I'm only in training as of right now and only working on weekends. I worked about four hours this morning and my next shift is Friday afternoon."

"That's pretty good though." Yugure commented before the girls finally took notice of a group of kids who seemed about fourteen or so crowd around a bunch of tables near the corner of the store.

"What's going on there?" Chiyo asked as the girls walked over to the groups of kids. Through the crowd, they were able to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a chessboard and two boys playing against other.

"Looks like Tomoki's finally going to beat Tadase!" One kid commentated from within the crowd. The boy on the right of the table, Tomoki, seemed rather calm as he awaited the boy on the left, Tadase, to make his move.

"You know, we can end this quite quickly if you just tip your king over." Tomoki smugly.

"Fat chance." Tadase on the left hissed as he looked at his pieces. As he looked at them, he noticed something he hadn't noticed before. He pretended to be in distress for the next few moves and then, he beat Tomoki.

Tomoki looked at the chessboard in shock and gasped out," How did you even do that?!"

"You had left your king wide open while trying to take my other pieces." Tadase answered brashly.

"You may've beat me, but I bet you'd lose to Saiko Lumi Xenon in five rounds!" Tomoki shouted as he pointed to the leader-board beside their table.

"Well, I bet you'd lose to her in three rounds!" Tadase countered.

"Saiko Lumi Xenon?" Renge repeated as the two boys began to squabble. The four of them then looked at the leader-board where the initials S.L.X were.

"She's been at the top of the board for years now." One boy remarked amongst the crowd.

"But that other guy, Ichinose has been climbing up the chart really quickly over the last few weeks..." Another boy mentioned," That guy may be a match for our Lumi."

"I what it would be like to meet this Saiko Lumi girl..." Renge mused as the girls continued to stare at the leader board.

Yugure, who had tuned out her friends for a couple of minutes now as she watched the boys take sides on who would win between Saiko Lumi Xenon and Ichinose, then said," You guys wanna meet her?"

"Well, it would be something to meet a girl who apparently has nothing better to do than beat pre-adolescent boys in chess." Kanari remarked.

Yugure then narrowed her eyes at Kanari and led the girls to the bathroom. There, Yugure went into a bathroom stall and the three of them exchanged expressions. Yugure then exited the stall in a very, very different outfit. She was nearly unrecognizable. Well, she was but the girls saw her enter the stall to know it was her.

She wore a teal and yellow striped jacket that had a checkered print on it's shoulders and an orange tank-top with eyes on it underneath. Her shorts were white and words like 'Zap!' and 'Pow!' on them with a pair of awfully bright mismatched knee socks on underneath them. But, the thing that made her nearly unrecognizable was the fact that she was wearing a cyan colour wig that went to her shoulders that had a pink bow and silver crown clipped into it along with a pair of orange hounds tooth glasses.

"Well, now I see why you call yourself Psycho Lumi Xenon." Kanari remarked as Yugure struck a pose that seemed to say, "Ta-da!".

"...Why?" Was all Renge could say, looking at Yugure with utmost confusion.

"Well, it all started a couple of years ago..." Yugure began as she shut her eyes.

 _When I was in middle school, this place had just opened up and while it did generate and respectably-sized crowd, there was one thing about it that made it stand out from the rest of the stores that had opened that year. They were holding chess tournaments and each year, they would give out prizes to the champion monthly. That prize being a thirty-dollar gift card to Frozen Flurries. In all honestly, I'm not actually_ that _crazy about frozen yogurt. However, I'm obsessed with mochi, one of the toppings that are available in the parlour. So, I decided to play in the tournaments to win the gift cards and was taught by Minato how to play chess. I got amazingly good over a couple of months and soon, I was rising up the leader-board under the name Saiko Lumi Xenon._

"I've been placing first in these competitions for years now and I'm pretty well known around here. Like a celebrity." Yugure gloated.

"But why the disguise?" Chiyo eventually asked with a look of disgust on her face, her eyes feeling as if they were ready to bleed from all the awfully bright colours of Yugure's outfit.

"I wouldn't be recognized in public as the girl who creams fourteen year-old boys in chess at a yogurt parlour!" Yugure scoffed as she awkwardly ran a hand through her wig.

"Fair enough..." Chiyo responded, her eyes narrowed as Yugure led them out of the bathroom.

Before the girls returned to the parlour, they were halted by Yugure, who stood against the wall as she listened in on a conversation outside the parlour.

"No way, Ichinose's here!" One boy shouted amongst the clamor of other voices.

"Sorry kids, I don't play beginners. I wouldn't want to crush your spirits this early in your chess careers. I'm here for Saiko Lumi Xenon!" A voice that sounded a few years older than the other kids announced.

"Well here she is!" Yugure declared as she stepped out into the open, with her hands on her hips.

"In the flesh, the Saiko Lumi Xenon has been here this entire time?" The boy who appeared to be Ichinose gasped. He had very dark hair and wore a biker jacket along with shades and ripped jeans. He appeared to be about sixteen, maybe seventeen but either way, he looked so out of place in this parlour populated by tweenage boys.

Just then, a group of kids Renge recognized very well entered the parlour, though they went unnoticed by most of the people inside the parlour. Entering through the glass doors were Kokoro, Ushio and Nao.

Renge felt her heart race as she saw Nao and kept her gaze down, though she really wanted to greet Kokoro and not appear as rude or anything. She also wouldn't have minded to take a better at Nao, who didn't have his glasses on today.

"Saiko Lumi Xenon! How would you like to have a match with me?" Ichinose challenged as he crossed his arms gallantly.

"It would be my pleasure." Lumi said with a smirk," However, we need at least two more competitors if we want to play as a tournament. I don't do single matches."

"Hm..." Ichinose sounded as he tried searching for other competitors within the room. The kids behind Lumi looked at him eagerly and Ichinose quickly waved a dismissive hand towards them saying," They aren't yet ready for a tournament with the pros. You there!"

Ichinose pointed at Nao, though he only startled Kokoro and Ushio as he did so," Do you know how to play chess?"

Nao rolled his eyes, with a cocky smile appearing on his face," Do I know how to play chess? Is Mario a plumber?"

"One more person..." Lumi reported before turning to face the girls," Kana! Can you play chess?"

"Do cats have whiskers?" Kanari responded with a snicker," Let's beat these dudes into next week!"

The girls high-fived and then Ichinose declared," To make sure these two are worthy of competing against us, they have to play a match against the best players that aren't us here!"

"The best players are probably... Atsumu and Tadase!" One boy calculated.

Nao and Kanari then went up against Atsumu and Tadase respectively, with Nao winning his match despite squinting at the board for more than half of it and Kanari losing hers.

"I should've asked you can you play chess _well_?" Lumi groaned as she placed her hand over her forehead while Kanari hung her head in shame after being defeated by a thirteen year boy.

"Does that mean Tadase will be in the competition?" Atsumu asked as Tadase looked towards him with eager eyes.

"Only if...Saiko Lumi Xenon is unable to find another person to play in our tournament. Someone, who again, is a newcomer and can defeat Tadase." Ichinose answered before pointing to 'Lumi'," Saiko Lumi Xenon! You have one hour to find another competitor!"

"Wha-? But she's the best I could find..." Lumi sighed," Fine. I'll see what I can do."

Renge then whispered to Kokoro and Ushio as Lumi tried to think of someone else who could play in their competition.

"Can you guys play chess?" Renge asked them in a low voice.

"Sorry, I can't." Kokoro said sheepishly.

"I can play it's just I'm not all that good." Ushio replied candidly while Renge groaned a little before an idea came to her.

"Not that wouldn't be such a bad idea." Renge said to herself while she grabbed Kanari and Lumi's arms as she ran out of the parlour.

"Chiyo, keep watch of them!" Renge cried as she left the parlour with the girls.

"Them?" Chiyo repeated before realizing Renge had left her bag that had Renny and Topher inside," Oh, them..."

Renge, Kanari and Yugure then took the bus and headed to Renge's house, where a potential competitor awaited them. Renge opened the door of her house to find her brother walking down the steps of the stairs, still in his pajamas and not yet realizing Renge had brought along company.

"How was work?" Hikaru asked, sounding rather uninterested as he walked down the steps, moments away from seeing Kanari and Yugure in his door way," Renge! Why didn't you text me that you were having friends over? I would've changed or something!"

"Changed into what? A less whiny brother?" Renge questioned flatly before she did her explaining," How would you like to compete in a chess tournament?"

"Can Hikaru play chess? Yugure asked, sounding a little timid as she asked that while examining Hikaru. Before Hikaru answered her, Renge stomped into the kitchen to retrieve something from the cabinet. When she returned a few moments later, she held a handful of chess medals in one hand and waved them a little in Yugure's face.  
"Do these nerd medals answer your question?" Renge asked with a small scoff as she awkwardly placed her elbow on her brother's shoulder," No matter how well Ichinose or Nao may play, they probably can't compare to Hikaru!"

"Wow, you're some ex." Yugure remarked, before clamping her mouth shut her hands, feeling like an indecent person for letting such a comment slip out.

"I don't really think Renge wants to see Nao suffer but rather...she loves seeing her brother win." Kanari explained sheepishly as Renge began to laugh in triumph, despite Hikaru not yet giving an answer.

"So what do you say? Will you do it?" Yugure asked him, coming very close to begging him. Hikaru seemed interested, but not interested enough to want to play as his sister just let him be seen in his pajamas by her friends. But then he looked at Renge and found himself wishing he hadn't made eye contact with her just then. Her eyes had a malicious look to them, as if they were threatening him. He then wondered what she would've been able to do to blackmail him.

 _"Didn't do my homework yet...forgot to do the dishes...left the tv on all night..."_ Hikaru thought to himself, becoming quite distressed now.

"Ok, I'll do it." Hikaru answered," Just let me change my clothes. By the way, how long is this match going to take? And where is it?"

"Maybe a half hour at Frozen Flurries." Renge estimated as Hikaru climbed the steps to his room.

"Frozen Flurries? You mean that yogurt place?" Hikaru asked, sounding a tad unimpressed as he squinted his eyes at her.

Chiyo was getting a little bored sitting and waiting for the girls to come back and was quietly conversing with the birds inside Renge's bag.  
"Honestly, I don't see why they have to play against Ichinose so badly today..." Chiyo sighed. She felt like she was being held prisoner on the one weekend that she didn't have to work on. The kids continued to play chess against each other, in hopes that Ichinose would notice them while Nao played against himself with Ichinose looking out for the girls in the parking lot through the glass door.

"Chess is a game of wits, maybe Acumen could be inside Ichinose." Topher suggested.

"Maybe but..." Chiyo trailed off as she glanced over to Ichinose, who fists were against the glass door with his head hung down.

"Hurry up and come so I can claim your title Saiko Lumi Xenon!" Ichinose cried, sounding unusually passionate.

"...He seems a little weird." Chiyo finished before Kokoro and Ushio, who were staying just because, came over to Chiyo.

"It's strange how that Saiko Lumi girl seems to be an idol here yet the boys claim that they never see her out in public, huh Sakurami?" Kokoro asked as she and Ushio sat down beside her.

"I keep telling you Kokoro, Chiyo's just fine and, yeah, it is quite odd that the boys haven't ever seen her public. But with an appearance like that, they probably aren't lying or anything..." Chiyo answered with a forced laugh.

Kokoro then gasped as she caught a glimpse of something orange and green peering out from Renge's bag," You brought them!"

"Uh-oh." Was all Chiyo said before Kokoro peered into the bag and waved at Renny and Topher," Hey guys! You remember me right?"

Renny and Topher exchanged glances and waved to her awkwardly.

"Wait, what did she bring?" Ushio asked as he looked into Renge's bag, with Chiyo feeling as if her heart was about to drop. Ushio saw Renny and Topher and the two birds looked at him, appearing to petrified and unsure of what to do.

"Guys, it's ok. Ushio's really really good at keeping secrets, I swear!" Kokoro claimed as she tried gesturing them to come out. They looked at Chiyo, who wasn't sure of what they could do and simply shrugged.

Reluctantly, Renny and Topher walked out of the bag, much to Ushio's surprise. Chiyo was already beginning to feel as if this was a bad idea, but she decided to go with the flow as Ushio's facial expressions were becoming quite amusing to her.

"Just where the hell did Renge get these?" Ushio gawked while Kokoro urged him to lower his voice while Chiyo just arched an eyebrow towards him, wondering how he knew that this was Renge's bag.

" I've seen her with this Mellow Kitty bag before." Ushio explained before turning his attention back to Renny and Topher," So, are these like actual birds? Cause, they really don't look like your average bird."

Renny and Topher were about to correct him, but Chiyo sent them a glare that said not to and kept their mouths shut.

"So, what are they like some remote control toys?" Ushio guessed as he continued to look at the birds.

Chiyo tried desperately to think of a response while Kokoro simply said," They're special birds."

Darting her eyes to Kokoro suspiciously, Chiyo didn't say a word. She then stared at Ushio to see what his response was going to be. Admittingly, Kokoro's tone was persuasive enough in the sense that just hearing it made it clear that she didn't want any further questions asked regarding the birds origins or species.

Abruptly, Ushio then asked," Well, can they do any tricks or something?"

"Tricks?" Chiyo repeated her breath while looking over to Renny and Topher. Could they do anything that was worth being called a trick that wasn't talking or writing down excessive notes regarding Temptation?

Renny then began to gesture to a chess-board with his head and Chiyo was quick to catch on as she brought a board over to the table in a matter of seconds.

"They can play chess." Chiyo stated, as she laid the chessboard down in front of them. She positioned the board in a way so that the birds would be obscured by her back as they played to not draw any more attention to them.

"Really? Now that I wanna see!" Ushio exclaimed as Topher went to one side of the board while Renny went to the other.

 _"Sweet, we avoided a major crisis."_ Chiyo thought to herself, though she was still feeling incredibly tense.

Nao was looking at the board, having just won against himself yet again and was now beginning to mentally assign his friends to pieces in the game.

"Ushio would probably be a knight, and Kokoro would be a bishop..." Nao thought to himself as he stared at the board head laying on his folded arms," Sakurami seems like she would be rook and I guess Marco would be a rook too. So, what does that make Renge?"

Slowly and absent-mindedly, he picked up the queen piece.

 _"The strongest piece..."_ He thought to himself as he rotated the piece in his hands, looking at it carefully while thinking about that time at the aquarium.

Coming to his senses, he dropped the piece and stared at it as it rolled around.

"What am I thinking?" Nao said under his breath as he let the piece fall off the table," Renge shouldn't be stuck with a king like myself. Screw it, I'm no king."

His focus then came to the front row of the team," I'm nothing more than a sacrificial pawn."

Renge, Kanari, Saiko Lumi Xenon and Hikaru then bursted through the door entrances and Lumi declared," We're ready for this tournament!"

"Finally!" Ichinose shouted before striking a finger in the direction of the man behind the register," You there! Decide who will verse who!"

"But wait, he hasn't even gone against anyone to prove his abilities!" Kanari pointed out as she poked at Hikaru.

"No need, I know who this man is. Kotori Hikaru! It's been a while hasn't it?" Ichinose said as he pointed to Hikaru.

Hikaru stared at Ichinose for a couple of moments blankly before asking," Do I know you...?" Renge held back a giggle while Ichinose stood there, dumbfounded and waiting for Hikaru to recognize him.

Hikaru blinked another few moments and finally said," Catholic school division chess tournament of 2010 right? Wait, no...we've already played against each other too. You were the idiot who kept wasting time and throwing me off by writing down notes while you played!"

"So you do remember!" Ichinose retorted, sounding a little irritated by Hikaru's last comment," But, my note taking days have past. I've enhanced my memory to memorize every single move I make to make sure that I never falter in any way."

"What a weirdo." Kanari muttered under her breath, Renge giggling again before Ichinose took notice of them.

"Silence young girls!" Ichinose demanded," Now, lets the games begin."

For the first round, Hikaru went against Ichinose while Lumi went against Nao.

"He's pretty good, but...his fate's been sealed." Lumi thought to herself as she made her move. Nao was looking down at the board intently and made his move after a couple of moments. After he did this, he stared at Lumi while she contemplated her next move.

"What's with her outfit?" Nao thought to himself as he scrutinized the opponent.

Hikaru took a deep breath as he made his next move, moving his knight. After he did this, he looked at Ichinose who glowered down at the board in determination,looking at the board from every angle possible.

 _"I may've been able to beat this guy a few years ago but...can I pull off another win against him now?"_ Hikaru thought to himself. Ichinose had definitely improved since their elementary days and now he was on par with Hikaru. Back then, Ichinose did put up a good match against him, but one wrong move cost him his win.

He just then noticed Ichinose had made his move and now it Hikaru's turn again. He looked at the board and try to see just what Ichinose was trying to plan.

Meanwhile, Temptasia was sitting at a table in another room of her castle, tinkering away at a pocket watch. She hummed a little as she did this and paid no attention to Zephora as she walked into the room.

Finally, Temptasia put the pocket watch aside and beamed to Zephora saying," Good afternoon, how are you?"

"I'm fine." Zephora responded briefly before stating her purpose as to why she came to see Temptasia,"I need to know, why was it so important that the all scepters couldn't be activated? You said these Mega-Delinquouses only get stronger after every battle, so I fail to see how this is a-"

"Those scepters have a strange magic. Strange in the sense that when used as one, they can...find things, things that we need." Temptasia explained slowly.

"Things like the book right?" Zephora questioned in a somewhat flat tone," But wouldn't that be a good thing? If anything, that makes our job easier."

"When the book is in search of the light from the scepters, it has this habit of burning away anything 'evil' in sight. Making us unable to touch it." Temptasia responded," I don't want to have to pull out another one of you guys, so if anything, you all need to keep those Pretty Cure separated from now."

"Right. So, does that mean when those girls use their scepters together as one, the book will appear?" Zephora asked.

Temptasia rolled her eyes and placed her fist under her cheek saying," That book does whenever it wants. It might show up, it might not. But, the risk is too great and we can't even come close to it under those conditions without being obliterated or something. What we need is someone, or something to lure out the book, like a mole from the human world. But, the question is...who could we use?"

"Wait, what about that beacon Delinquous Vice had created? Can't that lure out the book?" Zephora pointed out.

"That thing's been malfunctioning ever since that one encounter at that hideaway. Not too sure as to why though.." Temptasia answered with a sigh," Today, I want all of you to go alright? Now could you be a dear and inform the boys for me?"

"Of course." Zephora replied as she walked out the room to round up the remaining two denizens.

 _"You idiot, that Delinquous was destroyed and Vice just made a new one so that you wouldn't get suspicious."_ Zephora thought to herself.

" _I can't believe this.._."Hikaru thought as he looked at the board, feeling his insides contort within him," _It's just like our last match years ago._ "

Before making his next move, Hikaru quickly looked over to Ichinose to see if he had noticed how close Hikaru was to winning. Hikaru flinched as he saw Ichinose's expression, crestfallen over realizing that Hikaru was moments away from victory again.

 _"Shoot! He's caught on. Now I can't even try and make a different move because he'll know I'm throwing the match."_ Hikaru said in his head. With a deep breath, Hikaru moved his one of his pieces and trapped Ichinose's king.

"Checkmate." Hikaru said neutrally. He knew he was supposed to lose against him so that Yugure could play him but how could he let him do that when Ichinose hadn't even noticed his plan?

"No!" Ichinose shouted as he stood up, his face in his hands and back turned to Hikaru. The remaining young boys that had stayed looked at the defeated Ichinose in bewilderment, never having seen him like this.

"Checkmate." Lumi said as she trapped Nao's king. Nao looked closely at the board, though it sorta hurt him to do so and his green eyes grew large in surprise. He said nothing and stood up as he shook Lumi's hand.

"Good game." Nao said tonelessly as he shook her hand.

Lumi beamed, " You too."

Nobody had noticed Lumi's win because they were still too busy looking at Ichinose in astonishment.

"Ichinose...lost?" One boy said," It wasn't even Lumi he lost to..."

"Such a shame when an arrogant fool gets hit by reality." Zephora said as she, Vice and Rishi appeared into the room. She snapped her fingers and a chrome-coloured crumpled sphere appeared in her palm.

"Run amok, Delinquous!" Zephora called out as she removed Ichinose's Inner Scholar from him and fused it with an empty frozen yogurt cup.

"Delinquous!" The monstrous cup of yogurt roared.

"Your turn." She said to Rishi before she waved good-bye and disappeared, with the Delinquous following after her.

"Wait, where's it going?" Renge said quietly as the rest of the girls tried getting everyone to leave the parlour.

Rishi then appeared before Lumi and looked at her carefully, mouth lifting in a half-smile as he asked her," Do I know you?"

Lumi's pupils shrunk in fear and distress as she tried to response, sputtering out in a strange voice," Nope, absolutely not at all!"

"So, you're not Cure Science?" Rishi asked with a chuckle, with Lumi looking down awkwardly at the ground, unsure of how to respond.

Before they could get everyone out, Rishi took Tadase's Inner Scholar from within him and fused it to a rook piece while saying," Run amok, Delinquous."

"You two stay here and fight this Delinquous!" Renge instructed," Me and Kanari will go look for the other one."

Lumi and Chiyo nodded as their teammates ran outside in search of the other Delinquous, taking out their pens shortly after.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" Lumi and Chiyo shouted in unison.

"The subject of generations past with that are sure to last, Cure History!" History announced.

"The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!" Science announced.

The two of them took a step back cautiously as the Delinquous readied itself to charge towards them. The Delinquous dashed over to the girls, who ducked and ran for cover behind the cash register's circular counter.

The Delinquous then stared at the Cures who were peering over the top of the counter, the Cures taking note of the fact that the Delinquous was glowing a strange indigo colour.

"What's it doing?" History questioned quietly as she and Science slowly stood up from behind the counter.

"Watch out!" Science shouted as she pulled History back under the counter with her. All the normal sized chess pieces that were on the other tables were being thrown to the girls.

"But...who threw them?" Science wondered aloud as History got up from under the counter again and stood on top of it.

"Doesn't matter, either way they're not going to stand in our way!" History declared as she held her hands out to summon her scepter.

"Show yourself! Everlasting Scepter!" History cried out as her scepter appear in her hands," Now shape shift! Everlasting staff!"

History held the staff in her hands and held it up high, shouting," Pretty Cure, Storming Legend!"

A storm of lightning appeared from her scepter and all of the pieces fell to the ground immediately. She and Science then left their little hiding spot and went to face the Delinquous head on.

Zephora and her Delinquous could be found in the parking lot of Frozen Flurries, along with Literature and Arithmetic who were currently fighting against the Delinquous. Arithmetic was too busy throwing a dozens punches a second to even notice the Delinquous trying to charge up a strange beam in it's free hand. And just before it shot the beam, Literature stood in front of Arithmetic, holding out her scepter and shouting,

"Pretty Cure, enchantress whirlwind!"

She was able to knock the Delinquous off of it's feet for about a few moments, then it stood up and leapt up high.

Literature sighed as looked up at the Delinquous before urging Arithmetic to jump up with her. Arithmetic jumped up behind the Delinquous sent it whirling away to Literature who was about to use her scepter again, but was grabbed by the leg as the Delinquous began to fall.

"Let! Go!" Literature screamed as she tried to extract her leg from the Delinquous' clutch.

"Pretty Cure, Imperial Dendrite!" Arithmetic shouted as she directed her scepter in front of the Delinquous. The Delinquous let go of her and Arithmetic caught her instantly and threw her up again.

Literature shrieked as she began to fall again,"Just what do you think you're-?!"

"Geometric frenzy!" Arithmetic shouted as she created a large blue two-dimension beneath herself, with Literature falling onto it.

"That's what I think I'm doing." Arithmetic responded as the two went back down to face the Delinquous.

The two landed on their feet and looked around for the Delinquous who was nowhere to be found.

"Where could it be?" Literature asked as she and Arithmetic looked around for it.

"Watch out!" Arithmetic shouted, but it was too late, the Delinquous had already trapped them within itself lying on the ground upside down.

"Great, now what?" Arithmetic barked as she and Literature stood back to back.

Literature looked around the interior of the Delinquous and a plan came to her quickly. She smiled an unusually mischievous smile and said to Arithmetic,

"Just follow my lead."

Science was trying to fend off the Delinquous on her own as History had just been thrown into one of the yogurt dispensers, still trying to recover from the collision. Science's scepter was out and currently transformed into the Wondrous Caduceus, which was being held in front of herself for defense.

Usually, this wouldn't have even scared Science to be facing off a Delinquous on her own, at least not at this point. But, there's was something about this Delinquous that was just so much more...malicious than the ones before it. Why was that? Each Delinquous was the same, so this one couldn't have been any different than the one before it. Science kept telling herself that but it wasn't doing her much good. Science then bumped into a frozen yogurt dispenser and found herself cornered.

"Hey, rookie! Over here!" History shouted as she began to throw waffle bowls at the Delinquous. The Cure clad in yellow was successful in drawing attention to herself and the Delinquous began to storm over to her. When she ran out of waffle bowls, she started throwing frosted animal cookies and then when those were finished she reached for a tong and flung a helping of jelly beans in it's face.

"Cure History!" Science screamed before she threw another helping of jelly beans at the Delinquous.

"What?" History exasperated impatiently as she held the tong full of jelly beans in her right hand.

"Whatever you do, please don't throw the mochi!" Science begged, causing History to groan just before she threw the tong of jelly-beans at the Delinquous.

The Delinquous appeared to have had enough of this and shook the jelly beans off of itself and charged over to History. History held her scepter in front of herself after retrieving it from inside her sash and shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Archaic tremor!"

The Delinquous lost it's balance and fell to it's feet while taking down a table with it. As it stood up, it scooped up a handful of the fallen chess pieces next to itself and threw them at Science and History.

Science and History ducked quickly while standing on the counter where all the toppings were and Science summoned her scepter again.

"Pretty Cure, Galactic mirage!" Science shouted as she pointed her scepter towards the Delinquous, shooting out a giant an enormous splash of water from it. The Delinquous was about to slip and fall, but, it manage to stay on it's feet this time.

Science appeared to be greatly frustrated and shouted out," You guys always ruin everything! Be it a volleyball tournament, a cute date, or even a damn chess match! Ichinose didn't deserve to have his Inner Scholar corrupted by the likes of you!"

"It's not like we did all the corrupting." Rishi said in his defense with a light-hearted chuckle," He met us half-way. If anything, he had it coming, playing against something he didn't stand a chance against."

The Delinquous threw a couple more pieces at Science and History, with the former swatting them away with her caduceus.

"You may think that..." Science began as she reverted her caduceus back into it's scepter form," But I think you're terribly mistaken! Chess isn't just a game of wits, it's a game of growth and it mirrors life itself. After all, it's not our victories that we learn from but rather..."

Science blasted a mass of small violet stars and lavender little planets towards the Delinquous, leaping upwards and snapping her fingers, causing the stars to burst apart in front of the Delinquous.

"...Our mistakes!"

The Delinquous fell to it's feet again and just as it did so, the other Delinquous and Zephora bursted into the parlour, the red and blue Cures being held by the Delinquous. The Delinquous seemed rather beaten up though as there was much wear to it's exterior and what appeared appeared to be a few holes burned into it.

The Delinquous threw the two Cures on the ground and Zephora glowered down at them saying," Burning my Delinquous from the inside out, such insolent girls."

Literature and Arithmetic scurried to their feet while Zephora turned her head over to Rishi and said," We need to fuse them now."

Rishi said nothing and simply delivered a small sigh as a form of a response, before turning to Vice and saying," You know what to do."

Vice waved his hand over to the two Delinquouses, who appeared to be frozen in place because of his gesture. He looked at them carefully and commanded," Conjoin."

The two Delinquouses became one and now the Delinquous was even bigger than before. The Delinquous also seemed to be a bit more energetic now and was dashing up to the Cures now, ready to obliterate them.

The four of them jumped up high and Literature landed a kick into it, trying to decide what could be done to defeat this Delinquous.

The Delinquous got up immediately and swung Arithmetic into the wall while trying to fend off History and Science, summoning storms of lightning and tides of water upon it.

Literature then looked down at her scepter in hand and looked at the girls, holding it tighter as she did so.

"If we want to purify a Delinquous of this size, we need to work together." Literature said to herself quietly while she gripped her scepter tightly.

The Delinquous was just about to swing at History and Science, but Literature attacked it from the back, striking an arrow into it.

"Guys, we have to purify this thing as one." Literature declared as she stood in front of them.

"Could we really do that?" History asked with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"We've done it before." Literature reminded her.

The girls nodded and Literature said aloud while closing her eyes briefly,"As my journey to find myself begins, I call upon my scholar within!"

Lia then appeared instantly and just then, a large bright golden key with a heart on it's top emerged from within her.

"What's this?" Literature asked cautiously as she looked at the key in her hand. Lia then pointed to the bottom of the scepter and Literature found a keyhole under it.

"How come I've never noticed that?" Literature asked herself as she placed the key into the scepter's keyhole. The scepter then made a clicking sound and was now glowing a vibrant pale pink light. Literature looked over towards the girls and gestured them to do the same.

They followed suit as instructed to and now all they're scepters were glowing brightly.

"This isn't looking good..." Zephora said as she looked over to the Delinquous, still on the floor with the arrow in it's back," Stand up! Go, they're going to try and destroy you!"

The Delinquous scrambled up to it's feet upon Zephora's demand and tried to fight back as it darted over to the the girls. The girls dodged it's attacks and sent it flying into the yogurt dispensers, leaving it defeated.

"With ardency!" Literature shouted as she held her scepter up high.

"With precision!" Arithmetic shouted, following suit.

"With justice!" History shouted.

"With wonder!" Science shouted.

The Cures and the Delinquous were then surrounding by a pale white light that was blinding to everyone outside it.

"Pretty Cure, Scholastic examination!" The Cures cried out in unison. The Delinquous was purified, much to Zephora's apparent discontent and the two Inner Scholars returned to Ichinose and Tadase.

Zephora looked around the room madly, as if something was about to come and strike them, but nothing appeared. Her quick breathing was slowing down as everything returned to normal.

"Let's get out of here." Zephora decreed as she disappeared.

"Agreed." Rishi said as he and Vice vanished with her.

Lumi then walked up to Ichinose, who was sitting at a table trying to collect himself and remember just what on earth had happened to him. All he was able to remember was fainting and then, nothing. No one told him about being taken out of the parlour with his arms being slung around Hikaru and Ushio's shoulders and no one was sure if he had remembered the match as he said nothing regarding it.

"Ah, that's right." Ichinose began after a long sigh," I lost to him again."

"Um, if it's makes you feel better, I'd be honored to play you just for fun." Lumi said as she knelt down in front of him.

"No need, Lumi Xenon. I am not yet worthy to face such a strong player like yourself." Ichinose declared," But that doesn't mean I'll never be able to! You guys!"

The fourteen year old boys that remained in the parlour were startled by Ichinose's shout and looked over to him worriedly.

"Today, you have witnessed your idol lose to a newcomer, making the same mistake he made years ago. But, this loss is only firing me up now, motivating me to better myself to beat Kotori Hikaru and someday, Saiko Lumi Xenon! So kids, don't let defeat drag you down! Learn from your mistakes and turn those feelings from defeat into ambition!"

That speech of his really did hype of those kids and now they were all cheering for Ichinose, despite his loss.

"Someday, Saiko Lumi Xenon, I'll claim victory over you!" Ichinose declared passionately.

"We'll see about that." Lumi smirked.

"Saiko Lumi Xenon?!" Rishi repeated, laughing wholeheartedly at the alias," What were you thinking?"

Yugure narrowed her eyes at him, pouting as she said," I made it up when I was thirteen ok?"

Rishi's laughter died down and he looked over to Yugure, with a small smile on his face, saying," Well, I guess it just shows how far you're willing to go to get what you want."

"I guess..." Yugure replied quietly, placing her gaze on her nearby pillow. It was night now, her parents were on a business trip this weekend and she was left home alone. Well, home alone with Rishi who showed up unexpectedly again. He actually had been doing this a little bit more frequently lately and the more time she spent with him, the better she got to know him. She was beginning to see him less like an enemy and more like a...well, she considered him to be in that in between stage of acquaintance and friend.

"So..." Yugure began uneasily in a cautious voice as she tried to slowly make eye contact with Rishi,"...What happened to Jika?"

"Yugure, you know I'm in no position to tell you. It doesn't concern us." Rishi reminded her.

He then drew out a long breath and then said," But, if it was Cure Science forcing me to tell or something, I'd tell her I haven't the slightest clue. Anyways, I should get going. I'll see you some other time ok?"

"Later." Yugure responded, still thinking about Jika now after she brought her up.

When Rishi left, Yugure sat on her bed with arms folded on her window-sill.

"I shouldn't keep doing this. I could get in so much trouble if I was found out..." Yugure said to her quietly, her eyes downcast," I guess sometimes, we need to decide for ourselves on what we should act upon; what we know or what we feel."

Rishi could be seen standing by Yugure's front gate, lighting up a cigarette and looking down to the light with his mind elsewhere.

"No doubt about it now..." Rishi said to himself as he took notice of his heart beating at an achingly quick rate," She's the cause of this."


	27. Silver Platter you say?

"If you keep at it like this, you're bound to grow lonely, bored, and old..." Renge recited, her fist resting under her head as she concentrated on remembering the rest of the line," And your heart shall be small, shriveled and cold! Thank god I remembered."

The boy beside her, Hitomu, applauded as she took a deep breath and reclined into the booth. She was at work right now and the boy, Hitomu was helping her practice her lines for the play. Bit by bit, she was getting them down and growing more comfortable in saying the lines out loud in the restaurant. Currently, the two of them were on break and utilized this time to work on Renge's opening scene. Lucky for Renge, Hitomu was also in Drama club, but he was in that club when Renge would have yearbook club. But, he was in her cast, as a matter of fact, her character Regine and his character Reginald were siblings. It made Renge smile a little whenever she remembered that little fact as the two of them looked the most like siblings out of each set of Regine and Reginalds.

"You're getting the hang of memorizing that line!" Hitomu commented as he looked down at the script of himself.

"I guess. It got easier once I realized the lines rhymed." Renge replied sheepishly," I mixed up the order of that line during the last rehearsal remember? Ms Miyano looked liked she was about to kill me. Then she gave me an earful."

Hitomu closed the script in front of him and said," I don't think it's because she has against you personally, I just think it's because you're a third-year and you got a big role. She also did commend that first-year Ayumu for nailing his scene, though that scene's pretty much the only one he speaks in. "

"Fair enough." Renge responded as she thought about how that last rehearsal went. It was the first of two that would involve both casts and that first rehearsal was brutal. There were a bunch of kids who still hadn't had their lines fully memorized, with weeks having past since they were assigned to be off-book and of course, the majority of those kids belonged to Renge's class.

"But, in all honesty, I find it quite odd that you're playing the sly and benign Regine when in real life you're for the most part rather shy. No offense." Hitomu remarked.

Renge laughed awkwardly, expecting someone to say that sooner or later," None taken. I guess it's just because she's so much more different than me it makes it more authentic? I don't know, it's acting. I've heard it's easier to play a character that nothing like you as opposed to one you have a lot in common with. Plus, it's not like, _I'm_ saying it. It's Regine who's saying all this and I'm simply portraying her.

"Interesting thought." Hitomu replied briefly," The big day is drawing near though."

"Shh, don't say that. Otherwise, it'll come even closer." Renge warned as she stuck her tongue out," Are you going to the cast party?"

"I'm hoping so, anyways, I think our break is just about over." Hitomu said as he looked at his watch. He stood up and Renge followed him in doing so just as her phone rang from within her pocket. Renge sighed a bit, she really disliked being called, and picked up the phone after seeing that it was Yugure who called her.

"Hello?" Renge said into the phone as she stood against the wall next to the booth.

"Hey Renge! Listen, I won't be able to hang out with you and Shizuka on Monday, I've got to take Xandra to the vet again for a check-up. I'm really really sorry about that." Yugure apologized over the phone.

"No, it's alright. There will be other days to hang out anyways." Renge said as she waved a hand in dismissal before realizing Yugure wouldn't see the gesture.

"Alright, thanks! I guess I'll see you whenever I can huh?" Yugure responded, sounded unusually excited, as usual," I'll talk to you later!"

"Later." Renge said as she hung up. She looked down at her phone as she held it in her hands, thinking about how long it had been since she hung with the rest of the girls as a group. It felt like it had been a pretty long time, but perhaps it was only a couple of weeks or so? Nothing too extreme, and it wasn't like they were avoiding each other. They just weren't being assembled as often due to prior engagements like work for Chiyo and Renge to a lesser extent and other reasons. She then thought about how strange it was yesterday when Kanari rejected Renge's offer to have lunch with her on account of already planning to have lunch with somebody else. Who that somebody else was was currently unknown to Renge and while it did make Renge a little curious, she decided to keep her suspicions to herself as she trusted Kanari.

Renge walked back into the kitchen, taking note of the fact that there was only an hour left until her shift was over. Thankfully, this was her only shift this week and that allowed her to focus on learning her lines for the play while silently relishing in the scarcity of homework that came with this new semester. But, every time she remembered why this semester was likely so easy, she felt shudders crawl down her spine while thanking the heavens that the count down to graduation had yet to start. Before Renge began to freak out over how quickly the days were passing for the fifth time this month, she reminded herself that was she in high-school, and her time here wasn't over just yet.

"Cherish the moments, don't relinquish living in them in sight of the distant future." Renge reminded herself, quoting a poem she had to analyze for her literature class last week.

Elsewhere, on the other side of town, a girl with with rosy brown hair and dull cerise coloured eyes was getting yelled at in the kitchen of a rather fancy restaurant. The restaurant was nearly full, as always and today's shift was horribly under-staffed, leaving only two or three people the head chef actually trusted while the rest were either classified under barely competent or woefully inept.

"I am _so_ sorry I spilt his entree on the ground I really really am!" The rosy-brunette apologized to the head chef as he glowered down to her. Two waitresses and a waiter were looking at the dispute between her and the head chef, unsure of whether to step in or not.

"It's bad enough you spilt it when it took almost half an hour to prepare, but then you actually ask him if he's ever considered the three-second rule?" The head chef bellowed. The girl giggled sheepishly, as if to keep herself from crying as she tried to form a response," Would you eat a meal that had been on the floor?"

"No..." The girl said as she averted eye contact, staring down at her feet," Unless it was in a wrapper or something. It really depends on what it is, not too sure about a full meal though."

 _"Mikoto's getting fired..."_ The three spectating the scene thought to themselves.

"No one in their right of mind would offer a meal like that that had been on the floor to a guest unless, unless...!" The head chef began, his face turning red," Unless, they didn't take my cooking seriously! I'm going out!"

"Wait, no! Chef Motou please! I didn't mean to disrespect you I mean it! Well, I don't mean that I meant the thing from before I just mean that I, well, you know I mean!" Mikoto blabbered as she followed Chef Motou out of the kitchen.

"So I take it we're without a head chef tonight huh?" One waiter asked as he appeared into the kitchen.

"Yup." The waiter nearest to him, Yasuke responded flatly after he sighed a long sigh," But, I feel like we might able to pull it out if we can just take out some waiters and waitresses and put them in the kitchen."

"You guys can cook?" The waiter asked in a clueless manner as he tilted his head.

"We aren't all incompetent you know..." Yasuke responded in an unnerved voice," But, because we only know how to prepare a handful of the meals, it might take us longer for us to make the ones we haven't done yet."

"The guests aren't going to like that." The waiter commented.

"I know. We need a distraction or something, like a headliner! Usually we only have those on Saturday nights though and our usual act is out of town this week..." Yasuke pointed out as he tried to think,"...Honestly at this rate, I think anyone will do."

"You think the manager will be ok with putting anyone on stage as the headliner tonight?" The waiter asked.

"To be honest I think Pops would rather that than a night full of unsatisfied customers and meals being served on the ground." Yasuke responded candidly with a small shrug," Think you could find anybody who could headline the night for us?"

The waiter darted his eyes to the side, saying nothing but ,"Um..."

"Please, Yoshida. Please..." Yasuke begged as he looked over to him with his large blue eyes.

"Don't you have any friends that could headline tonight?" 'Yoshida' asked.

"Yoshida you're our only hope!" Yasuke wailed," Need I say more?"

'Yoshida' narrowed his eyes and responded flatly," I'd rather you didn't. Fine, I'll see if I can find anyone."

"Thank goodness!" Yasuke said in a joyous tone," And, if you happen to find Mikoto, tell her she has the night off. I doubt she'd be able to convince Chef Motou to come back for tonight's shift after what she did."

"Right..." Yoshida said with his eyes narrowed before he left the kitchen.

Yugure felt beads of sweat forming at her temples as she tried to decide on ways for her to make money for a dorm next year. The prices were looking quite outrageous to the near penniless Yugure and while she knew she did have the option of asking her parents to pay for her dorm, she also knew she wasn't just yet ready to tell them about Yozora University. Plus, there was always the chance of them saying no to Yozora and refusing to pay for a dorm. In the case of that happening, it would be a good idea to look for something like a job right about now.

"I'd probably be a little more motivated to do this if I wasn't so tied up with high-school right now." Yugure sighed as she put her laptop to the side, retrieving her phone from her side table to see if she had any unread messages. No messages, just a single email that Yugure opened up the moment she saw the notification on her phone.

"Maki Hamasaki has invited to you to a sketchy-sounding party..." Yugure read out loud with narrowed eyes," Gee, Maki. Thanks but no thanks."

She deleted the email in an instant and wondered why she even had Maki in her contacts. Seeing that girl's name made her so irritated though Maki was a nice kid, but...she was the sister of a girl Yugure didn't like as much. And thinking of that girl just infuriated Yugure to a point of no return and just before she thought of Maki's sister, she saw something, or rather, someone, enter from her open window.

"What are you doing here?" Yugure asked restlessly as Rishi came into her bedroom via the window. Before she did any more complaining, she took notice of the uniform he was in. He was sharp-dressed for a change, much to Yugure's surprise and looked like a waiter.

"Why are you dressed like that?" She then asked quickly, internally hoping that she wasn't blushing.

"This? Well, funny you should ask..." Rishi began with a small laugh,"...I need your help."

"My help?" Yugure responded, feeling jittery all of a sudden as she stared at Rishi," With _what?_ "

"So remember how I said I sometimes work under an alter ego? Well, the restaurant I work at needs a headliner." Rishi explained," Think you could help me out?"

"Do you even actually care if anything happens to that restaurant?" Yugure asked him as she arched an eyebrow.

"Not really." Rishi replied with a shrug as he sat cross-legged on Yugure's bed across from Yugure," Just curious if you would've been willing to help me if you could."

Yugure looked down to her bed sheets immediately, unsure of how to respond as she took a hold of a nearby throw pillow. She had already herself that just hanging with Rishi like this was bad enough, but to do him a favour in public? Now that was just too risky. She looked up and just when she was about to say no, she couldn't find the words as she looked over to Rishi. Yugure bit her lip as her eyes darted to the side; a friend in need was a friend indeed right? And like he said, this had nothing to do with Pretty Cure and Temptation. Or did it? But, he had yet to pull anything on her ever since that one visit a few weeks ago. But it would've foolish not to be at least a little suspicious of him when he shows up with such a request. Oh, what to do?

Yugure then decided," Ok, I'll call Renge, Kanari and Chiyo to meet us at Silver Platter in twenty minutes."

Yugure put heavy enunciation on the girls' name as if to implicate that she had her guard up tonight. She then took out a dress from her closet and a black bolero jacket before she went to the bathroom to change.

Rishi's mouth lifted into a half-smirk as Yugure walked out of the room, but once she was gone, his expression changed to that of a dismayed one. He was getting tempted to light up a cigarette in her room, but quickly decided against it.

"Stop doing that." Rishi said with a groan to no one in particular as he placed his hand over his chest.

"I'm still curious about why Yugure wants us to go to the Silver Platter with her. I heard that place has bread sticks that cost nine dollars a plate." Kanari mentioned as she and Renge, walked to the restaurant as they got off the bus.

"I think we're still wondering about that actually. Yugure did skim out on a lot of details." Renge pointed out as she breathed in the intensely cold air from the winter night. As they walked, Renge noticed the lack of snow on the ground which was very unusual for this time of year and while she liked the idea of spring coming early, she would've also enjoyed watching snowflakes pile up at her feet a few more times before winter was over.

"Do you think she's treating us to dinner?" Kanari hypothesized.

"I doubt Yugure would treat you guys at an expensive restaurant..." Renny said as he peered his head out from Renge's bag.

"But it would make sense, wouldn't it?" Renge asked in a dreamy voice as she thought about all the fancy entrees and such in the restaurant. They could could all hear Renge's stomach rumble and they wondered if she had dinner as of yet. They all assumed she didn't as she continued to daydream.

Soon enough, they reached the restaurant and were asked if they had reservations just as they walked in. Renge froze up in an instant, trying to delivering a response between her awkward stutters. Kanari drew out a small sigh and spoke for the two of them.

"We're here to meet with someone, is Hoshina Yugure on your reservations list?" Kanari asked the man at the door.

"Guys, over here!" Yugure whispered from the inside of the restaurant, particularly in front of the doors that led to the kitchen, where Chiyo was standing. Renge and Kanari saw Yugure poke her head out from behind a wall and followed her into the restaurant. The girls looked around the restaurant as they were led in by Yugure, fascinated by the gorgeous chandeliers hung from the ceiling along with the amount of people here tonight. They were all adults dressed in what appeared to be their most extravagant attire. Kanari began humming along to the smooth jazz playing in the background while Renge was exhaling a sigh of relief as she realized that no one was paying them any attention.

"So, why are we here again?" Chiyo asked as she leaned against the wall in between the kitchen doors.

Yugure collected herself and regained composure for what felt like the hundredth time this night before she answered," Alright, well...we are here to...entertain."

Renge's eyes widened while Chiyo's narrowed and Kanari simply laughed aloud while asking," You're kidding right?"

Before Yugure could even answer, Yasuke had appeared from the doors of the kitchen and saw the girls standing there with an unimpressed look in his eye.

"Which one of you girls is Yugure?" Yasuke asked quietly as he gawked at the group.

"That would be me!" Yugure answered in a tone louder than she intended, causing a few guests to stare at her. Yugure blushed as Yasuke ushered her into the kitchen.

"So, Yoshida, is this headlining act for the night?" Yasuke asked in a condescending voice as he glared at Yugure. Yugure started staring at the floor while Rishi simply looked at Yasuke dead in the eyes and said," Yeah. I don't suppose you could find any better, could you?"

"Good grief, Yoshida these are high-school girls! How do you even _know_ them?" Yasuke asked in revulsion before he knelt down slightly to Yugure and asked her," So what you and your friends going to do on stage?"

"What are we going to do?" Yugure repeated nervously in a painfully clueless voice.

"Are you guys in a garage band or something?" Yasuke asked while Yugure began averting Yasuke's gaze," Were fourteen year-old girls the best you could find?"

Rishi rolled his eyes at Yasuke while Yugure snapped internally and finally said," So what if we're just a bunch of high-school girls? We may not look like much but we can do more than you think! And Ri-Yoshida said that you were so desperate to find an act for tonight and you got one, so are you in any position to complain? You haven't even seen us perform!"

"Well can you do anything?" Yasuke shot back in frustration.

"We'll think of something and it'll be great, just you watch. Yoshida didn't choose us for no reason you know. And for your information, we're seventeen. Well, one of is sixteen but we aren't fourteen year olds." Yugure concluded. Yasuke said nothing and Rishi just stared at her in astonishment, not believing that Yugure just stood up for the two of them. One of the waitresses approached Yasuke and tapped him on the shoulder.

"I just got off the phone with my sister Erina. She can sing for tonight." The waitress informed Yasuke.

"Thank goodness." Yasuke exasperated as he momentarily rested his head on her shoulder.

"But...it'll take her an hour to commute here by bus." The waitress finished briefly," What? Her car broke down last week."  
"I doubt we could keep them under control without a headliner for an hour." Yasuke declared out loud," _But I fear what's going to happen if I let these girls take the stage..."_

"What should I do?" Yasuke thought to himself.

"You know, we really don't need a headliner Yasuke..." The waitress from before said to him.

Yasuke turned his head in her direction, taking note of the fact that the dish she was preparing behind her had caught on fire.

"Just don't do anything embarrassing." Yasuke pleaded Yugure.

"You can count on us!" Yugure reassured just before Mikoto bursted into the kitchen doors.

"Chef Motou hates me!" She wailed as she came into the kitchen. The waiters and waitresses inside the kitchen looked at her while she breathed heavily, some in distress and others in disinterest," But, I'm going to help out, as much I as I can!"

"Yoshida, you know what to do." Yasuke said to him with a snap of his fingers as he returned to his work.

Rishi then walked over to Mikoto and began cautiously," Listen Mikoto. Don't you think it'd be nice to take the night off?"

Mikoto's eyes shrunk in perils as she leaned against the wall away from Rishi," Why? So you guys won't have to deal with me for the rest of the evening? Because I made Chef Motou mad and leave? Is that why?"

"Yeah pretty much." Rishi responded bluntly, with Mikoto grunting as she pushed him out of her way as she exited the kitchen grumbling," I can't believe this place!"

"Excuse me." Mikoto grunted as she went past the girls, getting Renny and Topher's attention.

"That girl seems, vaguely familiar..." Topher stated quietly to his brother, who nodded in agreement," What should we do?"

Currently, the two of them were in Renge's bag that was now on the floor and Renny motioned to follow her. The two of them snuck out of her bag and went unseen by Renge and the rest of the people in the restaurant as they followed Mikoto.

Yugure then exited the kitchen and said to the girls," So, what's our act going to be?"

The three of them looked at her blankly as she waited impatiently for a response from them. None of them had any bright ideas and Renge finally asked,

"How did you get us all into this?"

Yugure took a deep breath before responding and said," Well, it's like this; the head chef stormed out a little while ago because one of the waitresses dropped a meal on the floor. Without head chef and a few others chefs, the shift is pretty understaffed. That guy who just called me into the kitchen said that he'd probably be able to pull off preparing the meals but, he'd have to take more time than the head chef and that would likely irritate the guests and give the restaurant a bad review. So in the meantime, we need to distract them so they won't have to realize how long they're waiting for their meal. Well, at least until the other act comes in an hour."

"So...that means, we're like the headlining act huh?" Kanari asked with her arms crossed, Yugure nodding in response.

"Something like that." Yugure answered.

"Well, in that case, we could try doing individual acts. It'll likely take up enough time if we do that." Renge pointed out before realizing that she would have to be on stage, all by herself trying to come up with an act on the spot.

"On second thought...maybe me and Kanari can do an act together while you two do individual acts..." Renge theorized as she stood behind Kanari.

"Goodness woman, you have to recite gigantic monologues on stage in a couple of weeks and you can't preform a simple little act in front of a small audience?" Kanari asked as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"This is different!" Renge yell-whispered,"I don't even know what our act will be!"

"I guess I need to start thinking of something too..." Yugure said to herself as she looked down to her feet.

Just then, Yasuke appeared before the girls from the kitchen and said to them in an impolite voice ," I'm giving you girls five minutes to come up with something if you're still planning to go on stage."

"Yasuke, the lobster's biting at me!" Someone from inside the kitchen shouted, causing Yasuke to groan and run back inside.

Yugure's snickered as Yasuke rushed back into the kitchen as the girls tried deciding on what they should do on stage.

"What are we supposed to do for our act?" Kanari asked Renge as the bespectacled girl tried devising an idea. There were many things to choose from, but...nothing really seemed to work for them as a duo.

"We'll do an improv scene." Renge decided with a snap of her fingers.

"We're doing a what?" Kanari repeated flatly.

"Renge, we can't do anything unprofessional!" Yugure reminded her urgently in a whisper.

"We'll keep it classy, don't worry." Renge reassured her with a thumbs-up," So, what do you plan on doing?"

"What am I doing?" Yugure repeated with a vacant look in her eye before her gaze fell to a stack of cups sitting on a table in the corner," Um...I think I'll just keep that one as a surprise."

"So, who's going to go first?" Chiyo asked all of a sudden, with all eyes leering towards Yugure at that instant.

"Wh-why me?" Yugure asked quietly as she looked at her friends in distress.

"You're the one who brought us here tonight." Kanari pointed out, leading Yugure to sigh and accept her fate. Within those next two minutes she had, Yugure rounded up a stack of red cups and practiced stacking them together on a folding table backstage. She was rusty, and had only cup-stacked for maybe a week straight during one week of summer vacation two years ago. It wasn't much of a headlining act, but it was the best she could think of on such short notice.

Yugure's smile from mastering her cup-stacking routine on the first try was dropped in a matter of seconds after she realized something.

"I'm the opening act."

Rishi was just about to go on break, only moments before Yugure got on stage but, before he left the restaurant, he heard Yugure's somewhat shaky voice echo throughout the room; resulting in his chest pulsating at that uncomfortable pace again.

"Good evening everyone! I hope you all are enjoying your night and that you have an extraordinary night here at the Silver Platter!" Yugure beamed as she looked at her audience, whose attention was given to her in only a few seconds. Rishi smiled a small, but very genuine smile as he looked at Yugure, her blue eyes glimmering under the light on stage. He then went outside and leaned against the side of the restaurant.

"What ever happened to out of sight, out of mind?" Rishi asked the empty lot, a forced laugh escaping his lips. Thinking about Yugure, from her bright, cheerful smile and big blue eyes brought him at ease, but he wasn't too sure if he understood why. He had a feeling as to what these occurrences were implicating, he just wasn't sure of what to do about it. She wasn't like the rest of her team, but maybe that was because they spent so much time with each other for him to realize that there was more to her than just being a Pretty Cure. Yugure was kind and generous, with such a big overflowing heart that Rishi himself began to see the miniscule wonder in things that Yugure would see. Everything bewildered her and Rishi really loved that about her. Being able to spend all this time with Yugure made him almost thankful for Temptasia's decision to have him try and reel secrets regarding Pretty Cure out of her. Only almost because, doing so would've ultimately hurt Yugure once she found out. Thinking about that made him tense up and left him wondering what he could've done if he wanted to act upon these emotions.

Yugure's cup stacking had been going well for the first few minutes and despite her act being that of an unusual one, she had many people watching her interestedly with their undivided attention. She made sure that she kept her focus on the cup stacking as she looked down at the table, unaware of the amused stares she was receiving from the guests watching her. Soon, she began hearing a few people cheer for her as she continued to stack without error. She was gaining confidence with the cheering that came with her precision, maybe a little too confident though as, just before she finished her stacking, she dropped a cup in front of the table. Yugure felt her heart drop and she let the cup slip out of her grip and the audience fell silent. Yugure then looked at the remaining cups in panic and noticed she could still try and formulate an alternative finish to her routine without the fallen cup. Within that moment, she went on with her routine and once she was finished, she gained a little bit of applause, but likely not as much as she would've attained had she not have dropped the one cup.

Yugure took a deep breath, upset about dropping that one cup, despite recovering from the mistake.

 _"At least they were entertained."_ Yugure thought to herself.

"I can't stand living here! I hate having to live in this inhumane human world!" A girl with very long hot pink hair and bright pink eyes griped from within an apartment that she looked quite out of place in. She was sitting in front of Renny and Topher and was currently stretching out her arms. The girl wore an ornate yellow dress and magenta dress with pale green sleeves and teal winged barrettes in her hair. She also sounded very much like Mikoto.

"So, Aurora...you've been living here for how long now?" Renny asked her in a somewhat nervous tone.

"Like three weeks." Aurora said flatly," Headmistress told us that the Book had been stolen and in order to stay safe, we had to evacuate immediately, which honestly doesn't make sense to me because we've all been told that it takes much longer for things to disappear than we think upon the book's disappearance. But then again, none of us were ever sure if the book was still in Univer Kingdom these last couple of weeks."

Aurora took a drink of her soda sitting on her table and said shortly after,"If the Book really had been missing for that long, don't you think it's a little strange that Headmistress said nothing about it to us?"

"I think she was trying to handle things on her own and believed that she could retrieve the Book before it came to this." Topher explained.

"You two know something I don't, do you?" Aurora guessed as she scrutinized the two birds," How long have you been here anyways?"

"About that..." Topher began stiffly as he elbowed his brother.

"We were sent by the Headmistress to look for the Book along with the Pretty Cure..." Renny finished for him, just as awkward as he averted Aurora's gaze.

"And long ago was that? Like a few weeks or something?" Aurora asked as she took another sip from her soda as she awaited their response. They said absolutely nothing and waited for her to catch on.

" _Months?_ " Aurora asked in astonishment, as she leaned in closer," But...how can that be? How could it take so long for Univer to get to the condition it's in now without the book?"

"You know, Aurora, you never did get around to telling us how things have been in Univer Kingdom." Topher pointed out, causing Aurora to look down at the birds with a grieved look in her eye.

"Now that you mention it, there were things that did seem a little off without the book. Like the University closing down, but I didn't know about that up until recently as I lived off the mainland. That one island, Nichibotsushima has vanished and there are still some people from the island who haven't been found yet. Some have been speculating that those who weren't found disappeared with the island. But no one knows, which as you know, is something that absolutely drives the people of Univer Kingdom insane. You know, being in the state of not knowing. I'm only one of the many, many people who have had to leave Univer Kingdom so I wouldn't be harmed, but it's so infuriating living like this when you can't do anything right and when you have no idea what's happened to your loved ones. Everyone was separated from each other and for all I know, my family could've been scattered on opposite ends of the world or worse; never made it here in time. I've had to start from scratch, give myself a new identity to make sure I don't disappear along with rest of Univer Kingdom. I don't understand how all of this could have happened."

"You'll be back home soon enough Aurora, we all will." Renny reassured her,"Say, do you know if everyone has evacuated yet?"

"I doubt it. That door in the Headmistress' castle can only take about ten people before the thing malfunctions so, I'm pretty sure the Headmistress is still sending people to the human world as we speak. Why, is there anyone in particular you're worried about?"

In truth, they were worried about a lot of people; their friends from University, their parents and other relatives that were on Nichibotsushima, but there was one singular person that they feared the safety of immensely. They exchanged expressions and figured they were both worrying for the same person; that person being their youngest brother.

"Well, if it's someone important to you, I'm sure that the Headmistress won't fail to bring them to the human world safely. After all, she did assign you two with the job of finding the Book." Aurora reminded them.

"So, should we inform the Pretty Cure about you being here? You know, to keep you safe?" Renny offered.

"For now, I think I can take care of myself ok? Plus, I think the having the Pretty Cure know that I, a civilian from Univer Kingdom, is currently here might endanger me." Aurora responded.

"You have a good point." Renny answered," Well, I guess we should be off. We'll see you when we can alright?"

"Of course, I'll you two soon." Aurora beamed as the two left her apartment through her window.

"Good evening everyone!" Kanari and Renge said in unison, both of them in tones that were very different from each other.

" Hope you all are having a lovely evening tonight!" Kanari said to the crowd before they began their improv act. As they began their act, which they decided was going to be about a girl and boy going out on their first date, Yugure watched them from behind the curtain of the stage with bated breath.

"This could go so wrong so quickly..." Yugure said to herself as she watched the girls continue their act. So far, they kept it appropriate but it wasn't that comedic, especially but it wasn't like they could do anything about it since this was all being improvised on the spot. Currently, Renge's character, the girlfriend, was trying to ask Kanari's character, the boyfriend about his interests. They were walking in a park and then Kanari pretended to stop walking to say,

"So, um...you're paying for dinner right?"

"No, you didn't say I was going to!" Renge said, pretending to be extremely furious with her new boyfriend," You could've at least told me! Geez, you're the worst Yasuke!"

The crowd howled with laughter after hearing that, all of them knowing that Yasuke was the name of the most well-known waiter here. Even Yugure nearly broke into a fit of laughter back stage, but she clamped her mouth shut to prevent herself from laughing.

Yugure then stopped laughing immediately as she realized something important," How could I be laughing when Yasuke probably heard that? This isn't going well and yet I'm finding this all hilarious. Maybe it's not the thought of having a bad headlining act that's worrying me but rather..."

Yugure hung her head a little feeling as if a headache was coming, her bangs obscuring her eyes as her gaze fell to the floor,"...The thought of letting down Rishi."

She sighed and said to herself quietly," I know he said he doesn't really care about what happens tonight, but...that can't be all true if he asked for my help. He must've cared a little bit. Or...or, maybe this wasn't even about the restaurant. Maybe..."

She trailed away from that train of thought, and then wondered aloud,"...Is this why I felt so bad about messing up my act?"

Before she could do any more brooding, she was snapped back to Earth by Chiyo who tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

"Yugure, is everything alright?" She asked her with a never-before-heard hint of concern in her voice.

Yugure's heat shot up as soon as she heard Chiyo's voice and turned to see her. She had her winter coat back on, which must've meant that she went to get something from her car, but it was so dark behind the darn curtains that Yugure wasn't sure of what Chiyo had retrieved from outside.

Yugure then said, "I'm alright it's just...I'm scared that I'm going to let my friend down at this rate because of my cup-stacking mishap and now this. I'm just so worried that he'll be mad at me and want nothing to do with me making a fool of myself like this."

"Hey, you recovered pretty quickly though didn't you?" Chiyo reminded her," And, _I_ don't think you let your friend down. But, if you still think you did just remember..."

Chiyo then took out a guitar from the case it had been in this entire time,"...The night's not over yet."

Yugure lit up upon seeing the guitar in Chiyo's hands, Chiyo offering her a small yet reassuring smile in return. The two of them began hearing applauding from the small crowd and Yugure gave Chiyo a thumbs-up before she went on stage.

"What's this, a little talent show?" Zephora crooned with a snicker, standing in the corner of the restaurant with Vice at her side. From where she was standing, she was able to remove Yasuke's Inner Scholar, who had been standing in front of the kitchen doors with a dejected look on his face. She then conjured up a chrome crumpled up sphere and shouted with pointing to an empty table,

"Run amok, Delinquous!"

"Delinquous!" The monstrous table roared as it came to life. All the guests from the restaurant ran for their lives and left the building as Yugure began gripping the nearby curtain tightly with confusion and anger.

"He couldn't have done this, could he?" Yugure asked quietly," He...he never did say he wouldn't pull anything tonight. But..."

"Pretty Cure, come out come out wherever you are~" Zephora sing-songed as the Delinquous stood looking around for an opponent.

Yugure's eyes went wide again, feeling what almost felt like a wave of relief come over her. Renge, Kanari and Chiyo then appeared back-stage with her and urged her to transform with the rest of them.

"Pretty Cure, study session!"

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic announced.

"The subject of generations past with that are sure to last, Cure History!" History announced.

"The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!" Science announced.

"Making learning fun, together as one, we are... Academia Pretty Cure!" The Cures introduced as they each stuck a pose.

"Ah, there you are." Zephora remarked as she saw the girls standing on the stage.

"Invading and ruining a night like this when people came to enjoy themselves is something we absolutely won't let you get away with!" Literature shouted valiantly.

"You think we're the only ones ruining the night? Did you girls even see _your_ own acts?" Zephora chided, causing a guilt-ridden Science to look at the stage's floor in shame," Delinquous, go!"

The Delinquous darted over to the stage and the Cures jumped away before it grabbed a hold of them.

In mid-air, Literature shouted out," Appear! Ardent Scepter!"

She pointed her wand to the Delinquous, still in mid-air and cried out," Pretty Cure, enchantress whirlwind!" Her attack missed the Delinquous and hit the back wall of the stage instead.

The Delinquous was then confronted by Arithmetic and History who began to throw countless punches and kicks in the direction of the Delinquous. History did more of the punching while Arithmetic handled the kicks. Shortly after, Arithmetic leapt onto Delinquous' table top.

"Pretty Cure, Imperial dendrite!" Arithmetic shouted as she directed her scepter in front of the Delinquous' legs. It's legs had frozen over, but not for long as it then spun around like a massive top as it felt something on it's 'head'.

"Stop spinning!" Arithmetic demanded as she clung onto the edge of the table top. The Delinquous then bucked her off and threw her into a wall. History was compelled to go tend to her and just before she decided against it, Literature appeared on top of one of the tables and aimed her scepter, now transformed into the Ardent Striker, at the Delinquous.

"Pretty Cure, Typhoon of passion!" Literature called out as she shot the arrow into Delinquous. The Delinquous took a step back and fell back into the stage.

History and Arithmetic walked closer to it cautiously and just then, the Delinquous grabbed them quickly held each of them in both hands.

Science then dashed over to the Delinquous impulsively and summoned her scepter shouting," Behold! Wondrous Scepter!"

"Shape shift! Wondrous Caduceus!" She cried as she pointed the caduceus in front of the Delinquous," Pretty Cure, galactic mirage!" The Delinquous set the girls free after being struck with the attack and Science's gaze fell to the ground momentarily.

"I can't let my personal worries interfere with the matter at hand right now." Science said to herself as she held her caduceus in front of herself with a look of determination in her eye.

Science swung the caduceus around and stood her ground as she awaited the Delinquous to make it's move.

The Delinquous charged straight towards Science and and she jumped onto a nearby table as she swung the scepter in front of herself and shouted," Pretty Cure, Nebula flash!"

Stars and little planets began swarming around the Delinquous only to burst apart in front of it seconds later. The Delinquous fell backwards and Science glowered down to it as she began to walk to the Delinquous.

"I won't let you ruin this night any longer." She declared sternly. Just then, the Delinquous rose up and pushed her away into one of the tables. She let out a shrill scream as she made contact with the table and glared at the Delinquous angrily.

"That's what you think." Zephora commented as the Delinquous began to spar with Literature and Arithmetic.

The red and blue Cures did manage to put up a good fight against the Delinquous but they were each ultimately thrown into the far wall of the stage. As Literature and Arithmetic tried to get up after being thrown into the wall, the Delinquous began approaching it's next opponent. History narrowed her eyes at it with her Everlasting Staff in hand and back against the wall, trying to decide on what she should do next.

Science began to feel fear arise in herself as she watched the Delinquous make it's way over to History.

"Just what is she doing?" Science thought to herself nervously as she watched History stand there.

Just before the Delinquous was about to lunge for History, Science came from behind and tried attacking the Delinquous much to History's surprise. But, she wasn't able to land her attack as the Delinquous suddenly turned around and sent her back flying into the stage.

"See what happens you try helping your friends? You just keep embarrassing yourself in hopes that you'll be of aid to them, when you're nothing more than a burden." Zephora declared.

Science looked down at the floor of the stage as she tried getting up with little avail. She tried blocking out and ignoring that stupid, but candid comment from Zephora but it was hopeless when even she herself knew that Zephora was right.

"She's no burden to anyone!" History declared as she held her staff up high as she jumped off a nearby table," Pretty Cure, Storming legend!"

History summoned a thunderstorm onto the Delinquous and as it was caught within the attack, History glared over to Zephora and said,

"She did all of this for her friend that she cared about deeply and you may think she's made a fool of herself, but I think she did an amazing job tonight." History declared before she turned around to face Cure Science," And I also think her friend is very thankful for all of her efforts tonight."

Science stared at History, unsure of what to say.

"Hmph, Delinquous, let's take this battle outside." Zephora declared as she and the Delinquous blinked out of the room.

"Come on!" History shouted as she led the rest of the girls outside. In front of the restaurant, out on the street was the Delinquous, Zephora and Vice.

"Let's not have this go on any longer than necessary." Literature declared as the girls stood in front of the doorway to the restaurant. They nodded in agreement and Literature and Arithmetic leapt up and attempted to attack from the top, knowing that the Delinquous would trying spinning around again if they did that.

"Arithmetic, I don't think I can hold on any longer!" Literature wailed, her face turning a little green.

"Just a little bit more, you can do it!" Arithmetic shouted.

"It's not paying us any attention..." Science then realized as she and History watched the twirling Delinquous.

"Then that gives us the perfect chance to attack!" History shouted as she sprinted towards the Delinquous, gripping on to her scepter tightly.

History then held her scepter in front of herself and shouted," Pretty Cure, Archaic tremor!"

The ground beneath them shook and History jumped up onto a nearby light post while the Delinquous just fell onto it's side with Literature and Arithmetic jumping off of it.

When the tremor was over, the Delinquous was lying helplessly on the ground, unable to move an inch.

"Ready?" History asked the girls as she held up her scepter. They all nodded in return.

"Open Sesame!" History cried out as she summoned her Inner Scholar Juli. Juli then conjured out a bright golden key and History stuck the key into the bottom of her scepter.

The rest of the girls did the same and their scepters all glowed brightly as they were held up high.

"With ardency!" Literature shouted.

"With precision!" Arithmetic shouted.

"With justice!" History shouted.

"With wonder!" Science shouted.

"Pretty Cure, Scholastic Examination!" They shouted together as the atmosphere turned white in mid-sentence.

"A-plus!" The girls said in unison, each of them giving a wink as they did so. The Delinquous was purified and Yasuke's azure Inner Scholar returned to him. Zephora looked quite distraught as she began to look around for the book to appear, but it failed to do so. Zephora gritted her teeth as she realized wasn't coming today and left with Vice resentfully.

"I hope the inside of the restaurant looks alright, otherwise we're going to have need you to use your Geometric Frenzy attack." Literature informed Arithmetic.

Arithmetic giggled sheepishly and then suddenly realized something," Guys, where's Cure Science?"

Yugure was sitting in front of a lamp post that was far away from the girls and sitting on the other side of the lamp post was Rishi. Yugure had seen Rishi spectating the battle a few minutes and being unable to settle herself without some answers, she decided to finally try and get those answers she'd been wanting for a while now.

"Why is it always me you visit? Why was I the one that you went to?" Yugure asked, her throat feeling as dry as sandpaper," I'm not bothered by it, I'm just curious."

Rishi looked down to his feet, unsure of what to say. Yugure was more than deserving of answer but what kind of answer he was going to give her was something he hadn't yet decided on yet. Not when he had been doing all this because he was ordered to. He wasn't sure if he was ready to tell her the truth but, if he didn't...he would've been risking his friendship with Yugure.

So he finally said," A couple of weeks ago, I had been tasked with an on-going mission. That mission involving finding out every secret the Pretty Cure may've been hiding through the Pretty Cure, Cure Science."

Yugure felt her heart sink, silently cursing herself for expecting this.

"...However, I failed that mission greatly through not only telling the Cure in violet about it but by falling for her too."

Yugure's heart began racing like she had never felt and when she turned around to face Rishi who then turned around too which resulted in them only being inches away from each now.

"Well, if you feel that way and I feel that way...maybe we should...we should do something about it." Yugure suggested nervously, trying her hardest not to look at Rishi.

"Do something about it?" Rishi repeated.

Those thoughts that Yugure were having before about Rishi not being a trust-worthy individual were getting drowned out by all of her current panic as she tried to tell Rishi what she wanted to say.

"Would you...like to be a part of a, you know, a c-couple with...me?" Yugure finally said, feeling as if a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Rishi smiled and laughed a small laugh as Yugure nearly lost herself in his topaz-like eyes as he replied," I'd love to."

Before Yugure could do anything fretful and joyous, she had to laid down the rules for him.

"Well, we can't let anyone suspect of being a c-couple. You can't show any particular increase of resentment towards me. That'll simply make things too obvious. And you said yourself, this...relationship isn't between any member of Pretty Cure or Temptation. It's just us. Ok, Ri-kyun?"

"Ri-kyun?" Rishi repeated in surprise.

"Oh damn it I said it aloud!" Yugure said as she reddened while looking to the side in humiliation.

"A nickname huh?" Rishi asked," I guess that means you need one too. How does...Kismet sound?"

"Kismet? What's that?" Yugure asked him in a clueless tone.

"You don't know? Well, I'll you'll just have to find out for yourself." Rishi responded as the two of them stood up," I'll see you later ok?"

"Oh um, you forgot this at my place..." Yugure said as she reached in her pocket for something. She held out the necklace she had given him.

Rishi stared at the necklace for a few moments before he took it and said to her," Thanks. Later, Kismet."

He gave her a kiss on the cheek before he vanished and Yugure stared into the space where Rishi was moments ago.

Her heart fluttered in her chest and she held her hand over it as she thought about what just happened.

"It's funny...I feel unusually calm right now. Why is that?" Yugure asked as she lifted out her necklace that matched Rishi's," Maybe he's got this calming effect over me. I feel like I'm floating on a cloud. I'm surprised I almost forgot how that felt like. I hope this can work out, I really do."


	28. Party hard or party home

Renge's eyes fell onto the bottom of her booklet as she began to space out. The story they were reading in class was interesting and also served as a great distraction for Renge to think of something other than her plans for tonight. Tonight being the first night of the play. Usually, she didn't really get nervous over school plays, but something about this year's play was driving her mad. Maybe it was because she was nervous that her cue would be missed because she still didn't trust her cast to be off-book? Or,maybe it was because of how big her part was and how she herself had lines that would be cues for the other actors? Either way, she was too nervous too function properly right now as she began to draw little spirals on the corner of her booklet.

She then glanced over to the opposite end of the room, where Kanari's desk was and saw that the blonde hadn't yet come back after going to get a drink of water. She wondered briefly why Kanari was taking so long and then remembered what would've likely been Kanari's reason.

 _"Her favourite water fountain's on the other side of the school."_ Renge thought to herself, her eye twitching slightly. Renge then took a deep breath and started doodling pictures of her Fountain pen of Knowledge.

 _"Temptation's attacks have decreased greatly ever since Jika's disappearance. We've haven't seen them in weeks now, which is almost...unsettling. But, the fact that my group of friends, both Pretty Cure and non-Pretty Cure, have begun to drift a little as of lately unsettles me even more."_

"Ah, now that hit the spot!" Kanari exhaled as she wiped her mouth. She could tell Renge a thousand times that the water fountain in the third hall had the best tasting water but unfortunately, she could never persuade her best friend to believe her; despite having her compare the fountain water's with another somewhere in the school a few times before. Kanari shook her head in disapproval at the memory of Renge saying," All water tastes the same."

"My poor taste-blind friend." Kanari said to herself before she heard what sounded like a teacher's voice scold someone outside in the hallway.

"Miss Kemuri, I'm afraid this is going to affect your grade in the way that you would like it." A teacher said to a student in the hallway. Kanari was hiding behind a wall to eavesdrop and heard what sounded like Tsubaki trying to defend herself.

"I know that isn't one of my better test scores. Actually, it might just be an average for me at this rate. But I promise I'll do better if you let me have a retest! I can't go into final exams with a failing mark!" Tsubaki pleaded.

"Well, it's not like having a mark that's slightly above failing will help your case if you don't understand the material. You have considered a tutor or some lunch-time help sessions in class, correct?" The teacher asked her.

"Yeah, I have. Um, may I get my scientific calculator from my locker?" Tsubaki asked. The teacher nodded and Tsubaki went in the opposite direction with tears welling up in her eyes.

Kanari then walked up to Tsubaki and greeted her," Hey Tsubaki. Is everything alright?"

Tsubaki dried her eyes very quickly before meeting Kanari's gaze," Hey Kanari! Long time, no talk and...no, things aren't going so well for me right now. Lately, my math mark's been dropping. Well, not lately, I've been barely passing since the beginning of the semester. But my last test score dragged my mark by a lot, I'm not even near passing right now."

Tsubaki sighed as the two of them reached her locker to get her calculator and she sighed a large sigh, tears forming in her eyes again," I don't know if I'll be able to get my mark up in time and I absolutely can not fail another test! If I do, I might not be able to pass and then..."

Tsubaki looked like she was about to cry and Kanari put a hand on her shoulder, though she had yet to think of anything to say. Tsubaki looked over to her, awaiting for her to say something and Kanari then suggested out of nowhere,

"What if I tutored you?"

"Kanari, you'd do that for me?" Tsubaki asked sounding genuinely surprised,"But, I don't want to bother and I'm nervous you'll have a hard time tutoring me."

"It's no bother to me Tsubaki, I'd loved to help and I'll make sure you understand the material, no matter how many times I may have to explain each formula or reword to make sure that you pass." Kanari declared loudly," I'm not going to give up until you pass, and that means I won't let you give up either, got it?"

Tsubaki stared at her, wide-eyed and unsure of what to say. She then smiled and nodded while saying," Got it!"

Later that night, Renge was back-stage at a fairly small theater with large dressing rooms. The dressing room was bright and alive with students, all in costume with some going over lines and other simply trying to find their scripts. By now, everyone was assumingly off-book but...there were some individuals who were more confident with there lines compared to others.

Ryo and Shizuka were going over lines for the fifth time that hour and at this point, they were just making sure they were word-perfect; delivering their lines with little-to-no emotion whatsoever.

"Don't you understand the phrase no?" Shizuka recited, wearing an off-white dress that went to the floor with gold trimming. Her ginger hair was straightened and wore in an elaborate bun with a pearl barrette clipped into it. She was wearing a heavy-amount of stage makeup that made her pores feel all clogged and was currently staring towards Ryo as she awaited his response.

"No, I'm afraid I don't my dear." Ryo responded as he looked over to Shizuka. He was dressed in bright blues and wore a teal tie under a light blue blazer. He was looking down at a script, squinting a little at it as he wasn't wearing his glasses as of right now. Everyone else in the room was too busy going over their own scenes and getting ready, but one individual who was already in costume and believed they were word-perfect was simply glaring at Ryo from the corner of the main room.

Ryo could feel Kyo glaring holes into him but said nothing about it as he decided that focusing on being word-perfect would be a better use of his time as opposed to starting drama with just a half-hour until the play.

"Do you know where Renge is? I need to rehearse with her." Hitomu asked Ushio in a near frantic voice as he looked around for Renge.

"Please stay on, please stay on~" Renge begged as she had her face only inches away from the mirror, appearing to be putting something into, or actually, _onto_ , her eye," Please, please, please don't flare up either..."

Renge then pressed the contact onto her eye for a couple of seconds and quickly pulled her finger away as she blinking a few times. She wasn't tearing up, so that was a good sign, though she felt the need to blink a lot more than necessary which made sense as she was wearing the contacts right now. Renge then took a look a herself in the mirror and felt a little odd. She wasn't used to looking at herself without her glasses on with perfect vision but it did feel pretty good.

Renge only had these contacts for about a few weeks now and she was getting quite accustomed to them now, as she had been wearing them at home for two hours a day. The only reason she wanted contacts was so she didn't have to wear them on stage for the play as they would glare against the stage lights. But then she thought about wearing them at school, but didn't seem to fond of the idea, thinking that people wouldn't recognize if she did this.

"I should really go run lines with Hitomu." Renge said to herself as she exited the washroom with her contacts case and glasses in hand.

"Renge there you are!" Hitomu clamored as Renge entered the dressing room," Can we run lines?"

"Just give me a minute ok? I still need to put on my stage make-up!" Renge declared as she rushed into the girl's dressing room. As she ran in, she searched for the foundation that only she would be using that to her somewhat unique skin-tone amongst her fellow actors and her bag that had all her make-up in it.

As Renge retrieved her eyeliner, she unscrewed the top and noticed her hand was shaking immensely from being so nervous.

"Well, this isn't going to end well." Renge said to herself with a forced chuckled as she stared down at her hand. She then looked around the room to see how the rest of the cast was holding up. Everyone seemed to be just fine for the most part, though Renge could spot a few first-years looking around the room nervously and going over their scripts again making sure they were word-perfect.

Renge then looked over to the corner of the room and spotted Kokoro with her head down against the table.

"And...Neji's dead." Renge said quietly to herself as she looked over to Kokoro.

Renge then walked up to Kokoro and asked her," Neji, are you going to be alright in time for the show?"

"I should be good by then..." Kokoro gasped out as she turned her head slightly to face Renge though her head was still against the table. Renge looked at Kokoro with concern in her eyes, never having seen Kokoro in such a condition. Kokoro had told Renge a few weeks ago that she was secretly extremely nervous about the play and hearing that really did surprise her considering Kokoro always seemed so...bold and confident to her.

Even Renge was beginning to feel anxious with only minutes left until the play began, but she chose to veil all of those feelings in order to show the first-years that there was nothing to be afraid of.

Renge then looked over to a copy of the play's script that seemed to belong to someone with a large part and there was a lot of wear to the script.

A Rose full of Briars was the name of the play they were putting on. It was about a boy named Caden who was spending his night at a party trying to woo a girl named Eileen who wasn't interested in his affections. During the play, many characters try to give Caden advice on how to win Eileen's heart and others try to tell Eileen that she's being too hard-headed. Later on in the play, a character named Avery appears to request Eileen's hand in marriage. Eileen rejects him angrily and Caden tells him he's coming on to strong and the two of them somehow end up in a fight. After their fight, Eileen declares that she doesn't want to marry or be with either of them and demands that they leave and the play ends.

"Renge, can we run lines now?" Hitomu asked from outside of the girls' dressing room.

"Yeah of course!" Renge shouted, though she was hushed immediately as they had began ushering in the audience.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever been in a theater like this before!" Yugure exhaled as she and Chiyo walked into the theater," Should we sit in the front or back?"

"Front." Chiyo directed as Yugure led the way. The theater was well-lit right now and Chiyo saw quite a few familiar faces in the crowd amongst them including students and some of her own teachers. As she and Yugure took their seats, Chiyo slowly took her phone out from her pocket and looked at a text sent from Kanari before she turned it off.

 _"Hey, I'm not going to be able to see Renge's play tonight, so try not to look out for me as I won't be there. Hope you guys have fun"_ The text read.

Chiyo's eyes were narrowed as she read the text over again. She didn't think honestly think it was an issue but...why wasn't she able to come tonight? Chiyo sent her that text about forty minutes ago and wasn't sure if Kanari had seen it already. She never got a response back, so Chiyo's suspicions were highly raised. But, Chiyo decided against trying to figure out what Kanari could've been doing tonight as the play was just to begin.

"Sometimes the prettiest flower in the entire garden, is the one that is covered with thorns to keep you away. But, if you really did want to have that flower, would you go above and beyond in order to make it yours, despite all the pain you might have when trying to reach out for the flower?" A tall, thin girl with shoulder length blonde hair asked the audience. After she asked that question, the play began.

Shizuka had the opening line and the cast managed to pull together for the play. Backstage, people who were awaiting their turn to go on stage were going through their lines in whispers while others watched the play from behind the curtains. Renge watched Ryo recite his lines with what appeared to be awe in her big brown eyes. He recited his lines with emotion and sincerity that Renge had yet to ever see in him. Come to think of it, Ryo didn't appear to take the play that seriously up until a few weeks ago. That didn't surprise her but the fact that this was Ryo's first time on stage really did surprise everyone else though.

Renge could hear someone from backstage whisper," Ryo's a natural!"

She spun around to see who it could've been, but saw no one because of how dark it was behind the curtains. She then nearly jumped as she saw a figure that seemed to have been there the entire time, spectating Ryo's opening scene.

Standing there with his back against the wall was Kyo, staring at the scene listlessly while Renge began to unconsciously stare at him. Once she realized that she was staring, she blushed and put her hands to her face feeling her cheeks get warm. She then looked over to Kyo with concern and wondered what he was thinking. Even though it was dark here, it wasn't like reading Kyo would've been any easier in any other place. Always brooding, generally quiet, Kyo was considered by Renge to be shrouded in mystery. But, she knew that was necessarily true. Kyo was just...misunderstood.

"Our scene's coming up soon..." Renge said to herself quietly as she took one more glance at Kyo.

The rest of the play went smoothly for the most part and everyone in the audience was really enjoying the play. With voices projected at full capacity, the stage and those on it had successfully gained the audiences' undivided attention. Though the cast couldn't really see it, they could feeling the dozens of stares from the audience burning into them. It felt so nerve-wracking but so good at the same time.

When Renge delivered her first line, she felt unearthly and strangely calm. It felt so surreal to be so calm in such a position but, Renge failed to feel anything but tranquility flowing within herself. After she said that first line, she wondered why and figured because this was likely going to be her last time performing. It made her begin to feel this bittersweet sensation all of a sudden as she watched Ryo recite his lines to Shizuka. She then darted her eyes quickly over to the small little group of second-years beside her.

Hitomu, Ushio, Kazuya and Kokoro, along with a few others were going to get that third-year baton passed to them within a few months and for a moment, Renge could've sworn she saw distress in all of their eyes as if they had all simultaneously just realized this.

Kyo was next to recite his line and remembering this made Renge think back to their last dress rehearsal a few weeks ago, where Ryo was forced to hug Kyo who was playing his younger brother, Cassius. During that hug, the emotions were just so real as Kyo was supposed to be absolutely loathing that hug and it was very clear that Kyo was. Renge hated admitting this, but watching that hug was just so much fun for her and likely for everyone else because of Kyo's clear displeasure.

"Oh brash Cassius, one day you'll understand the mechanisms of love." Ryo recited as he hugged Kyo.

Once the hug was broken, with Kyo once again having that look of absolute revulsion on his face, Kyo looked Ryo dead in the eyes just before he said his next line. He opened his mouth and nothing came out. The second-years between Ryo and Kyo looked at him apprehensively, waiting for Kyo to say his line though they could all tell, it just wasn't coming to him. Renge and Ryo were quick to spot the panic arising in Kyo's eyes and before he corpsed completely, Ryo said,

"What's this? No response? Could it be because you don't think love has any mechanism? Oh, how silly of you little brother!" Ryo improvised with a chuckle. The rest of the cast on stage took a small sigh of relief and Kyo recovered quickly, remembering the rest of his lines shortly after.

During intermission, nobody dared ask about or even mention Kyo's near corpsing on stage. But, he did inevitably receive a lot of stares from everyone.

"Great job out there Ryo!" The stage manager, a fellow third year said to him with Ryo beaming towards her.

"You too Kyo..." The stage manager said as Kyo slumped into a chair dejectedly, taking note of the fact that her voice had a significantly less amount of enthusiasm when praising him.

The rest of the play went just fine, and there was no other cases of corpsing after Kyo thankfully.

Renge's final line was coming up, and she felt adrenaline course through like never before. Currently, her character was having a conversation with Hitomu's character Reginald.

"So to what time should we expect Caden to be kicked out of the party?" Hitomu asked her.

"By the hour of ten." Renge responded confidently, before her eyes widened upon realizing something wasn't said right about that line.

"By the hour of nine you say?" Hitomu questioned," A well-thought out guess my sister."

Renge took a sigh of relief quickly and acted as if nothing ever happened.

Soon enough, the play was over and of course, the third-years were all forced to give a tiny little speech together as part of a ritual that had been done over the many years during the end of the school play.

"We hoped you all you enjoy the play as much as we did putting it together!" The stage manager shouted," I feel like it's hard for many of us in third-year to believe that this is our final year on stage, after all this club has done for us. Over the years, despite our differences, we've all managed to pull together and work as a team to get the job done and knowing that us third-years won't be able to have this experience here at Seinori ever again well...I think, or at least, I hope I speak for all of us when I say it's been an honour being in this club, working with all of these talented students to put on plays year after year. It's bittersweet to think that our journey here has come to an end, but, no matter what, I think Drama club will hold a special place in our hearts for all of us!"

The audience clapped at the stage manager's little speech and many of the third years teared up a bit as a few of them gave their own little speeches. Once the speeches were over and the cast had scrambled back into the back-stage room, the third-years were all unexpectedly given words of praise and admiration from their younger classmates.

"I hope I can be as good as you when I get to third-year Shizuka!" Kokoro gushed as she looked at Shizuka as if she was seeing her for the last time.

"I'm sure you will." Shizuka replied with a genuine smile on her face.

"Hey Ryo, make sure you come and see next year's play got it?" Kazuya said to Ryo as he placed a hand on Ryo's shoulder.

"Anything for you Kazuya~" Ryo said as he pretended to feel faint, making Kazuya stare at him obliviously in confusion.

"Oh Renge! You did really really good tonight! Better than I would've ever imagined!" Shinko wailed as she threw her arms around Renge all of a sudden.

"Watch it now..." Renge said as she began to feel mildly constricted in Shinko's embrace," But thanks, I hope I get to see you next year in the play. You did great tonight!"

"Thanks!" Shinko responded as she got her bag from the hook it was sitting on, a pale pink book with roses on the side falling out of it.

"What's that?" Renge asked as Shinko dived down to picked the book up.

"Um, alright. Because I loved putting on the play so much and wasn't really ready to part with it just yet, I bought the novel adaptation to it." Shinko explained as she grinned while holding the book up beside her face," But, now every time I read it, I can only picture the characters as the people in our cast. But I guess that's not a bad thing, right?"

"Not at all." Renge responded with a giggle.

Though the play was over, it didn't mean Drama club had yet to come to an end as of yet. This club would still be going until the last day of classes and so until then, they were left to things like, make up scenes on the spot and other things that involved acting.

Today, the class was now going to evaluate each other's performance in the play anonymously with one person randomly evaluating another. As the teacher handed out names, Renge felt herself tense up beside Shinko as she waited to get a name. Shinko was given a blank piece of paper beside her with a crumpled up piece of paper she took out from a hat. Renge looked over her shoulder and found out that Shinko pulled out Kazuya's name. Shinko began to write in an instant as Renge was given the hat.

Renge reached in and picked out a name, receiving a blank page after she did so. Slowly, she uncrumpled the name and read it silently with her eyebrows raised after reading it.

Anxiously, she tried to evaluate Kyo's performance from that night. She wanted to base it on his strengths during the play, not on that mini corpsing incident. When she was finished with her evaluation she felt satisfied with her response. A tad weary, but mostly satisfied.

When club was over, Shizuka walked to Renge and Shinko while asking the former," Have you seen Miki today? I have some Science notes from her I need to give back."

"I don't think I did..." Renge responded thoughtfully as she put her index to her chin.

"Alright, I'll just get Mizukage to give them to her." Shizuka declared with a shrug.

"Why get Kanari to give them to her?" Renge asked curiously as she narrowed her eyes slightly as Shizuka.

"Well, they've been hanging out quite a lot lately and I saw them getting coffee at lunch at mall last week so I just thought they were close now."Shizuka replied neutrally," Well, I guess I'll see you guys at the cast party!"

Renge and Shinko waved at Shizuka as she walked away with Shinko asking Renge," Are you going to the cast party?"

"Yeah, I was planning to." Renge answered.

"I'm not. I've got a tech run for my other play tomorrow night so I can't make it." Shinko explained," Oh well. There's always next year's cast party."

Renge nodded, still thinking about what Shizuka said about Kanari and Miki hanging out with each other. She then felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and took it out quickly, seeing that she just received a text from Kanari.

 _"My pen's doing the thing!"_ The text read.

Renge squinted at the text, confused by it before in came to her instantly. She then texted Kanari saying,

 _"Get the girls over at my place and will have it write it's message out over there!"_

 _"One step ahead of you!"_ Kanari's text read.

Renge groaned and rolled her eyes, waving goodbye to Shinko as she ran to get her bag from her locker and get out of the school.

Renge bolted into her house and found the girls along with Renny and Topher gathered in her kitchen instead of her bedroom with Kanari's pen thrashing about impatiently.

"You know, you didn't need to wait for me." Renge stated as she watched Kanari's pen rattle about.

"Well, we did anyways..." Chiyo responded as Kanari tapped her fingers against Renge's kitchen counter impatiently. Renge then retrieved a piece of loose leaf paper in a nearby binder for Kanari to write on and as Kanari held the pen, the pen pulled her hand over directly to the sheet of paper.

"Any longer and the pen may've made Kanari write on the walls..." Renny noted.

"This is so weird..." Kanari remarked as the pen did the writing for her. After the pen had finished writing it's message, the group circled around the sheet of paper to see what the pen had to say.

"The child of misfortune will be a great ally to you all, it's just a matter of persuading them to side with you." Kanari read out. She looked over to the rest of the group to see what they thought about this message.

"Who's this child of misfortune supposed to be?" Yugure asked as she stared down at the paper.

They all looked down at the paper, trying to decipher it's meaning and figure out who the pen was talking about in silence. The idea of a new ally sounded quite appealing to all of them, but no one was able to make a guess as to who it could've been.

"Hey Renge, just wanted to say you did really well in the play last night." Chiyo commended out of nowhere.

Yugure commented,"Yeah, I thought you were amazing! I didn't even realize you could act like that! Uh, well I mean-!"

Renge's laughter caused Yugure's train of thought to crash and Renge said," Thanks guys, I'm so happy you all made it to the show. I just hoped everyone else liked the show as much as you guys did. So, um Kanari what did you think of it?"

"I didn't go." Kanari stated, her voice nearly sounding completely neutral if it wasn't for a trace of uneasiness creeping up into it.

Renge simply blinked at her in surprise, looking mildly unimpressed as she asked," Why not?"

"I was tutoring someone. But I'll still be your plus one for that cast party tomorrow night. That is, if you still want me to." Kanari offered as Renge side-eyed her.

"Of course I do!" Renge declared, feel her voice waver a bit, wondering if it had been noticed by the rest of the girls. No one appeared to have heard, thank goodness for that. But, the mention of the party being tomorrow night made Renge freeze up all of a sudden.

"Renge, are you alright?" Yugure asked with concern as she saw a lifelessness begin to form in Renge's eyes.

"The party is... _tomorrow night_..." Renge gasped out, seconds away from panicking," Agh! That party's in less than a week, almost in less than a damn day!"

"Renge, I don't understand the problem, you've already been to parties. Like Kokoro's a couple of months ago.." Topher pointed out to the distressed Renge.

Renge turned her head rigidly to Topher with an inhumanely desolate look in her eye, letting a small laugh escape from her lips. She took a deep breath and wore a pitiful smile on her face as she looked over to Topher.

"There are two kinds of high-school parties in this world." Renge declared firmly," There are Kokoro parties, then there are Katsuzaki parties."

"So what's the difference?" Renny asked her naively.

"At Kokoro parties, everything is very quaint and comfortable, it could almost be considered as anesthetically pleasing with nice little conversation and such." Renge explained," At Katsuzaki parties, you don't know what to expect, when you're going home and...I sure hope you get the picture because I don't want to explain anymore. But, it's fun it's own way. It's like a memory to look back on and laugh at, or cringe. Or both."

"Oh my gosh, I don't even know what I'm supposed to do at that kind of party! Will we be playing video games? Are we supposed to talk about the play? _Are we going to dance?!_ "Renge questioned madly.

"I don't think there's going to be any dancing at that party." Chiyo debriefed flatly," Nobody dances at high-school parties anymore."

"But I need to be prepared! Otherwise I may end up making a fool of myself..." Renge said as she began to fidget with her hands.

The rest of the group looked at Renge as she stood nervously while thinking about tomorrow's party. They all exchanged looks and finally, Yugure said,

"If this is giving you this much trouble, is it even worth it to go?" Yugure asked her.

"Despite all this trouble, it is actually absolutely worth it to go." Renge declared without missing a beat," I want to hang out and get together with all of the friends I've made from Drama club one last time."

"I guess that's fair, but you don't have to stress yourself out over it though..." Chiyo stated in a somewhat sheepish tone," Maybe we could help you pick an outfit or coordinate your jewelery."

"Seriously? You'd guys want to actually do that? At this hour on a Thursday?" Renge probed as she took a brief glance at the clock behind her.

"It's only seven and I don't see why not." Yugure beamed.

"Well...if you say so." Renge said as she led the girls up to her room. Inside her bedroom, Chiyo ripped open Renge's color-coded closet and found more clothes than she expected. Chiyo gawked at the closet, speechless by the variety of colours and styles all mixed into Renge's closet.

"Where did all these come from?" Chiyo questioned as Renge's hanger of casual skirts fell onto the ground.

Renge shrugged, a small cheeky smile emerging onto her face. Chiyo and Kanari looked at Renge's wardrobe to survey their options while Yugure looked inside Renge's jewelery box. It was a lot of fun for Renge to have her friends trying and decide on an outfit for her and keeping her mind preoccupied for the time being. During this time, Chiyo proved herself to have a surprisingly indecent sense of fashion, with the outfits that she put together were either clashing or just too plain.

"It's called minimalism. It's supposed to appear as plain or rather, mature." Chiyo informed the girls, with Yugure and Kanari staring at her in awe with such a uncommon word thrown at them.

"Have you ever seen me in casual clothes? My style is anything _but_ plain." Renge declared with a shake of her head. She then decided she had enough of this and took out the outfit she had been creating in her mind for the last half hour.

"Now that feels like me." Renge declared as she held a grey short sleeve shirt over herself along with a black green and pink flower-print skirt," Yugure, how are you coming along with the jewelery coordinating?"

"Done!" Yugure cheered as she held a pale red filigree butterfly necklace with a matching gold butterfly ring and earrings.

"Nice job!" Renge said as she took the jewelery from her,"All of a sudden, the party seems less intimidating..."

The next day, after school, Kanari was taking her bag out of her locker and she reminded herself about the party tonight. Kanari honestly wasn't that interested about going to it, but...Renge seemed to want her there really badly so it was the least she could do. But, being inside inside of some random third-year's house where she knew virtually no one but Renge sounded a little...unappealing.

"I wonder what I should wear for the party..." Kanari thought absently with her eyes closed.

"Kanari!" She then heard a voice shout for her. Running up to her was none other Tsubaki, her glasses on and appearing to run in an uncomfortable manner with her long skirt on.

"Hey, what's up?" Kanari asked as she turned to face Tsubaki.

"I was just wondering if you could help me prep for my math test on Monday." Tsubaki asked.

"Sure, should we do it on Saturday or Sunday?" Kanari questioned as the two began to walk to the doors of the school.

"Actually, I was thinking tonight..." Tsubaki asked with a hint of uncertainty arising in her voice.

Kanari stopped walking and tried to figure out what she should do.

"I'm really sorry that this is so last minute, it's just I'm busy on Saturday and my sister has a soccer tournament on Sunday..." Tsubaki explained sheepishly.

Kanari continued to think and weighed out her options. It came down to either going to a party with Renge where she was bound to become a wallflower amongst a bunch of Drama club students or, enjoy the night doing something she had grown to love with someone really cool.

"I think I can help tonight." Kanari decided, making Tsubaki smile brightly.

"Thanks so much!" Tsubaki exclaimed joyfully," Well, I guess we can study at my place and go there now if you'd like..."

"Absolutely." Kanari said as Tsubaki led the way.

Renge sat on the three-seater sofa in Ryo Katsuzaki's living room, beside Kazuya with Ryo sitting beside him. The majority of people were sitting here inside the living room, discussing things like how the play went and if who they would cast as who if they had the choice. Everyone seemed really relaxed and were enjoying themselves, but Renge had this nagging feeling that it was only a matter of time before worth remembering was going to happen. Whether that something was going to be a really good or really bad thing was still indeterminable but...considering this was a party with no adults present except for the third-years, if they counted, it was probably something bad.

 _"Funny...I'm here now and expected myself to be enjoying this night like no other and yet..."_ Renge thought to herself _,"...I'm extremely tense."_

Renge's eyes darted from each side of the room, her contacts beginning to feel more comfortable now. She started gnawing on her dark magenta painted lips as she tried to figure out why Kanari wasn't here as of yet.

"Renge, I think you were hands down the best Reginald in the play." Ryo praised with a thumbs-up.

"I was Regine, but thanks..." Renge said under her breath.

Kanari sat at Tsubaki's writing desk beside the tall blonde and showed her how to solve the second-last problem on her mock test.

"You know, I'm not really supposed to help you..." Kanari reminded her.

"Just this one question...please?" Tsubaki begged as she looked at Kanari with her enormous blue eyes.

Kanari just couldn't resist as she said," Alright. So for this one, you need to find the area for each figure separately and then add them together."

"Oooh! I see!" Tsubaki responded as she began to punch numbers into her calculator. After a few minutes, Tsubaki arrived at an answer.

"Did I get it right?" Tsubaki asked expectantly as she showed Kanari her work. Kanari looked down at her page and was quick to notice something was wrong.

"That's not how you calculate the area for a triangular prism." Kanari stated as she took Tsubaki's paper and began writing on it," You forgot to add length times width. But, you've improved greatly over the last couple of days. I'm impressed."

"Do you think this calls for a celebratory dinner at Hachimaki Diner?" Tsubaki asked with a huge grin on her face," It's down the street from here, they've got really good burgers there."

Kanari shrugged and said," I guess."

"Great! I'll go get my jacket and purse." Tsubaki said as she ran to the coat closet before yelling upstairs," Yanami, we're getting dinner at Hachimaki are you coming with us?"

"Ok!" Tsubaki's little sister, Yanami responded.

Kanari wasn't expecting that, but it didn't bother her. Just then, a little girl who seemed to be about twelve who was the spitting image of Tsubaki appeared downstairs, though her curly hair came to her shoulders and her eyes seemed to carry a distinct coldness to them.

"Your tutor right?" Yanami asked as she examined Kanari. Tsubaki nodded happily as Yanami continue to stare Kanari down.

The three of them walked out of the house and awkwardly, Kanari said," Yanami,that's a cool name."

Yanami smiled a small smile at Kanari's comment and soon, the three of them reached Hachimaki Diner.

The Diner was large and filled with people tonight, but thankfully, it wasn't as crowded as Tsubaki and Yanami expected it to be. The Diner had this vintage look from it as if it was from the fifties and Tsubaki led the three of them to a booth.

Kanari looked around the Diner in amusement while Tsubaki and Yanami just looked down at the menus in front of them.

"Wow, took them long enough to add parfaits to the menu..." Yanami remarked flatly with her eyes narrowing on a picture of a strawberry parfait on the menu.

"We used to have dinner here every Sunday with our parents when we were little, but they've been so busy with work these last few months that we haven't been going as much as we used to." Tsubaki explained fondly as she put down her menu.

"So what are you having, the usual?" Yanami asked, sounding a little disinterested with her eyes still fixated on the menu. Tsubaki nodded and a waitress came to take their orders soon enough.

While the girls ate, Kanari performed little feats of entertainment for the girls, throwing a pair of fries up in the air and catching them both one after the other.

Tsubaki laughed at Kanari's act while Yanami looked at her, seeming to be both impressed and disgusted at the same time.

"That was great." Kanari said as she squirted a pool of ketchup into her plate.

"Thanks again for helping me with my math work." Tsubaki said before taking a bite of her burger," I couldn't have done it without you."

"It's no big deal." Kanari said as she tossed a handful of fries into her mouth," So, what are you going to do after high-school?"

"I'm studying Biochemistry at Kobayashi University." Tsubaki answered," What about you?"

"Studying Law at Takenaka." Kanari answered as she looked around the diner again,"This place is really nice."

Kanari then looked over to Tsubaki, who appeared to have not acknowledge her comment as she was too busy staring at a couple that was drinking a milkshake with two straws, gazing into each other's eyes lovingly.

"Uh, Tsubaki?" Kanari said, snapping Tsubaki to her senses as she reddened slightly.

"Uh, yeah! This place is really something! I'm just going to pay for the meal now alright?" Tsubaki said as she ran to the cash register.

As Tsubaki fled to the cash register, Kanari looked at her curiously, wondering what just happened while Yanami shook her head and took another fry from her plate.

"She only acts like that when she's crushing on somebody." Yanami declared," She likes seeing romantic things like that but she's never had a boyfriend. I wonder who's stolen her heart this time?"

Kanari's glance shifted to the corner of the room just before her phone started ringing. She got up from the table and stood next to the doors of the diner. She sighed a little as she saw that it was Renge calling her, knowing she had this coming.

"Hello?" Kanari said into the phone as she answered.

"Why aren't you here yet?" Renge questioned impatiently over the phone.

"Because something came up and now I don't think I'll able to make it..." Kanari replied in an apologetic tone while holding onto her phone tighter.

"Well, thanks for telling me in advance," Renge replied bitterly into the phone," Have fun with your tutoring or whatever."

Renge hung up the phone and looked at the group in the living room. It's not like she couldn't have a good time with these people, it would just feel harder without having Kanari at her side. She sat with Hitomu and Ushio joining in on their conversation, not taking notice of Kyo standing by himself in the corner of the room with a soda in hand.

 _"I don't deserve to be here...I screwed up on stage and now everyone thinks less of me."_ Kyo thought to himself," _All because I got worked up over the fact that Ryo was cast as Caden instead of me. I'm such an idiot."_

"Wow, this kid's Inner Scholar looks just ripe for the picking," Rishi remarked as he sat on the bench of the front porch to Ryo's house,Vice standing beside him" This should be interesting."

He then conjured up a crumpled, chrome sphere and extracted Kyo's Inner Scholar from where he was sitting and fused the corrupted Inner Scholar with a crushed can of soda lying near the front door.

"Run amok, Delinquous." He said as the Delinquous came to life.

"Delinquous!" The monstrous crushed soda can roared.

"Did you hear that?" Ryo asked hazily as he glanced over to the doorway. Just then, the Delinquous bursted into the house and scared away half the people at the party. Renge glowered towards it and quickly ran to the bathroom to transform.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" She shouted out as she held out her pen.

"The subject of writing and awe-striking empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

She ran out of the bathroom to see only three people left in the living room, those people being Ushio, Kazuya and Hitomu.

"Dude, we need to get out of here!" Kazuya demanded as Hitomu looked around the room frantically for something, or rather someone.

"No, I didn't see her leave!" Hitomu claimed as he spun his head around searching in distress.

"Right now your stupid crush on Renge doesn't matter, we need to save ourselves first!" Ushio beckoned as he and Kazuya finally managed to get Hitomu out of the house.

"Of all girls, Hitomu..." Literature said, her mouth twitching as she placed her hand over her forehead.

Just then, Rishi 'glitched' into the room and Vice appeared beside him, the Delinquous charging over to Literature in a couple of seconds shortly after.

Literature ran into the kitchen and hid behind the counter as she got her phone out from her bag lying in the corner of the kitchen. She decided to call Chiyo first instead of Kanari.

"Renge, what's up?" Chiyo asked as she picked up.

Literature held her phone up above the counter, letting Chiyo hear the screams from the Delinquous and said," That's what up, I'm at...300 Kano Avenue, can you get Yugure and Kanari and come here as soon as possible?"

"Of course." Chiyo said as she hung up.

Literature then went back into battle against the Delinquous as she stood atop of the counter. She darted up towards the Delinquous and kicked into the sofa in the living room. The Delinquous got back up quickly and then began to dash over to her. Once it came close enough, it began to hitting her and Literature dodged each attack and landed on the banister of the staircase. Literature wobbled a bit as she landed on the banister, but found her balance quickly before she went back to fighting against the Delinquous. Just as she leapt up in front of the Delinquous, it threw her into the front door and she shrieked upon slamming against it.

Literature's knees were shaking uncontrollably as she tried to stand up as she asked," Just whose Inner Scholar was this Delinquous made from?"

Literature looked up and saw that the Delinquous was beginning to thrash around madly, though she wasn't able to figure out why. She narrowed her eyes at it as it continued to do this and her eyes widened upon realizing what it was doing as it sprayed her with soda. Literature screamed as she got sprayed with soda with her arms held over her face. She was drenched from head to toe and was absolutely disgusted as she tried shaking her hands dry.

"Orange, even better." Literature said sarcastically in frustration as the smell of orange began to engulf the room.

Just then, the Delinquous began to run up to her again and before she could even think to do anything, she heard a voice shout," Pretty Cure, Nebula flash!"

The Delinquous was hit in the back by a swarm of violet little planets and stars and fell to it's feet in front of Literature, who gawked at it in surprise. She then shot her head up towards the back door at the kitchen, where Science, Arithmetic and History all stood.

"What a relief..." Literature said to herself as the girls all came to her side.

"Why do you smell like orange soda?" History inquired as she looked at Literature suspiciously.

"Long story short, let's just say it had to do with this thing!" Literature said as she pointed to the Delinquous.

"Appear! Ardent scepter!" Literature called out with the red scepter materializing in her hands," Pretty Cure, Enchantress whirlwind!"

As Literature blasted the Delinquous down into the basement of Ryo's house, she then discovered who it was that had their Inner Scholar corrupted tonight as a spilt can of vanilla cola rolled at her feet. There was only one person who had been drinking this stuff at the party tonight, and having their Inner Scholar corrupted at a time like this would've seemed more than plausible.

"This is Kyo's Inner Scholar." Literature said to herself as she picked up the spilt can of vanilla cola. The Delinquous emerged back from the basement and Literature sent a powerful kick straight into it's center and sent it flying to the other side of the house.

Literature was heaving in her breaths now, enraged by the fact that Kyo's Inner Scholar had been manipulated into this Delinquous.

"How dare you use Kyo's Inner Scholar?!" She shouted vehemently as she glared daggers towards Rishi and Vice. Literature's bangs were covering her eyes as she continued to speak.

"Wasn't that the guy the who forgot his line on stage?" Science asked quietly, causing Literature's eyes to widen with astonishment. Even people from the audience knew Kyo forgot his line, despite how well Ryo improvised on stage.

"Forgetting his own line on stage? What an amateur!" Rishi jeered," Serves him right for thinking he could act."

Literature shot an arrow towards Rishi, who barely dodged it as he oozed away from his spot.

"Acting's hard stuff you know!" Literature yelled furiously," Not only do you have to memorize lines along when they're said, you have to convey all these emotions within them! You're not just reciting a bunch a words in front of an audience, you're portraying a character and making sure everything, from your voice to your gestures depict the character in the exact emotion they're feeling."

Literature leapt off the counter she had been standing on and used Enchantress Whirlwind again as she said,"Sometimes, it's hard to convey the feelings of your character and other times and other times, it comes easier than expected. Maybe too easy when we get caught up in our own emotions as we try to play the character. And while it may not have been right for Kyo to envy Ryo for being cast as the lead, he's no amateur!"

"He still forgot his line." Rishi reminded her with a careless shrug.

Literature rolled her eyes and aided History in kicking the Delinquous into the fridge," It was only one line! And he had Ryo to help him recover because even he knew the fact that Kyo wasn't cast as the lead was getting to him. For goodness sake's, even I screwed up my own line! But my fellow actor helped me recover, like a good actor is supposed to do."

The Delinquous then came hurling over towards Literature who was cornered into the counter and stood with absolute uncertainty of what to do.

"Pretty Cure, Storming legend!"History shouted, sending a thunderstorm down onto the Delinquous. It nearly fell onto Literature but she jumped up beside Arithmetic and Science just in the nick of time.

"We aren't doing much damage to it..." Science observed grimly," It'd probably be best to attack from the inside out."

"You mean like...going inside the Delinquous?" Arithmetic asked, sounding a little wary of the thought. Science nodded and the three of them looked over to the Delinquous while History continued to fight with it. Literature could hear the sound of soda swishing around within it, as if it was almost filled to the brim with soda.

 _"That would mean I'd have to be swimming inside of it..."_ Literature thought to herself, her heart dropping upon realizing this.

"I'll do it." Arithmetic volunteered as she began walking up towards the Delinquous slowly.

"Wait, no you don't have to!" Literature said to Arithmetic after remembering that Arithmetic was a claustrophobic.

"It's fine, I'm the smallest out of all of us so I could get in and out of the Delinquous quickly, Not to mention..." Arithmetic said as she conjured up her scepter, now transformed into the sword,"...I'll able to inflict the most damage from the inside of it with this."

Literature wanted to say something else to convince Arithmetic that she didn't have to do it, but Arithmetic was already running up towards the Delinquous, leaping up very high and diving inside of the soda-can beast through it's hole. She was submerged into what felt like an ocean of orange soda, but for the most part, she was fine. She took out her sword and held it up high, slicing at the walls of the Delinquous relentlessly until she managed to tear a hole into it, causing the soda to leak out and leaving it fatally wounded.

Arithmetic leapt out of the can, looking a little distressed as she took deep breaths while the Delinquous fell over in defeat.

"Ready?" Arithmetic asked the girls who stood there at a loss of words while they looked down at the Delinquous.

"Boom, snap, clap!" Arithmetic cheered as she rapped against her chest, snapped and clapped to conjure Bertie, who conjured out a metallic blue key. Arithmetic inserted the key into the bottom of her scepter as did the rest of the team while holding their scepters up high.

"With ardency!" Literature shouted.

"With precision!" Arithmetic shouted.

"With justice!" History shouted.

"With wonder!" Science shouted.

"Pretty Cure, Scholastic Examination!" They shouted in unison, with the atmosphere around them turning white.

"A-plus!" The Cures exclaimed together, each of them giving a wink as they did so. The Delinquous was cleansed and Kyo's plum coloured Inner Scholar returned to him. Rishi glitched out of the room and Vice left, neither of them saying a word as they did so.

As Science looked at the spot where Rishi and Vice were standing at while History scanned over the damage they had caused in Ryo's living room, Arithmetic rubbed her hands together, getting ready to use Geometric frenzy to fix this mess.

"Are you alright?" Literature asked Arithmetic before she used Geometric frenzy.

"I'm fine." Arithmetic declared impatiently, her fingers itching to use the attack to clean up this colossal mess.

As Arithmetic began to use her attack, Literature blurted out ,"You didn't have to do that, we could've thought of something else-"

"It's already happened, no use in thinking about what could've been now." Arithmetic stated as she finished up repairing Ryo's living room," I'll see you Monday, ok?"

Literature nodded slowly and the rest of the group left, leaving Literature wondering where the rest of the Drama kids went to. She then saw her phone vibrating next to the kitchen sink and bolted over to it.

She got a text from Shizuka, three actually, with the latest one saying _," Renge are you ok? Where are you? We moved the party to my place. It's at 498 Kano Avenue, if you're still up for a party then you can come over, also text me as soon as you get this otherwise Hitomu won't let me hear the end of it."_

"Wow, third-years will not let anything keep them from partying huh?" Literature said out loud, her eyebrows raised as she looked at the text. She then looked at the clock, seeing that it was only eight-thirty.

"The night's still young." Literature shrugged as she detransformed.

Renge arrived at the party, knocking on Shizuka's front door. Shizuka opened the door and when she saw Renge, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness you're alright. Where did you go?" Shizuka asked, concern ringing in her voice as she let Renge in.

"I guess I just ran the opposite way from you guys." Renge said sheepishly as she took off her denim coat. She saw Hitomu and Ushio sitting on a pair of chair in the kitchen, with Ushio motioning her over to them and Hitomu looked extremely relieved as he saw Renge in the doorway.

Renge held up her index finger, gesturing that she'd be there in a moment as she scanned the room for Kyo. She found him quickly, seeing him sitting by himself in the corner again.

Awkwardly, Renge walked up to Kyo, her heart racing uncomfortably as she took her time to approach him.

"Hi Kyo," Renge began stiffly, only realizing now that this was the first time she had ever greeted Kyo.

"Hey." Kyo said, sounding greatly disinterested as he sipped his vanilla cola in hand, not even making eye-contact with her. Renge was very tempted to roll her eyes but decided against it as she reminded herself why she was doing this. She glanced over at Kyo, who didn't seem to take notice of the fact that she looked very concerned about him as was just looking at the party vacantly. She then began wondering why Kyo chose to come and then something came to her.

 _"Did they let Kyo come to the party out of pity?"_

"Kyo, I thought did an awesome job in the play. Even if you did corpse." Renge declared.

Kyo simply scoffed and said nothing, forcing Renge to continue speaking," We all know you didn't want to be Cassius but, no one could've played him better than you, no matter how much you hated the fact that you weren't Caden. And...actually, I remember Ryo telling me that he felt guilty for taking the role of Caden away from you. Everyone thinks you're an amazing actor, so you shouldn't think less of yourself because of one small mistake."

Kyo then stood up and was about to walk away from Renge before she sputtered out," Where are you going?"

"Going to ask Ryo if what you said was true." Kyo said neutrally as he turned slightly before leaving to go talk with Ryo.

As Renge looked at Kyo while he walked to Ryo and his group of friends, Renge then realized something else.

"He'll probably never know that I was the one to save his Inner Scholar and he'll just continue to live in ignorance like this." Renge said under her breath," But, it's not like he should know what happened tonight."

Later that night, as Renge was taking off her contacts and her earrings in front of her two-sided mirror on her folding table, she stared at her blurred reflection for awhile before looking at the heavy pair of earrings before her, remembering that they were a birthday present from Kanari last year. Renge then thought back to Kanari's act of bravery when she jumped into the Delinquous.

She then asked aloud in a soft voice," Was that her way of apologizing for not coming to the party?"


	29. A problem to solve

When club was over, Renge walked over to where Yugure's astronomy club was and waited patiently outside the door. Many students flooded out of the classroom, much to Renge's surprise, before Yugure walked out. When Yugure exited the club room, she seemed quite cheerful and once she saw Renge she asked her briefly,

"So I'm assuming you got Shizuka's text too?"

Renge nodded and the two walked over to the water fountains, hoping that they'd cross paths with Shizuka at some point before they reached the fountains. As the two of them were walking towards the fountains, they were met with a boy from second-year that Yugure seemed to know quite well, while Renge only knew him as a fellow yearbook club member.

"Hey Yugure, you haven't seen Satoshi anywhere have you?" The boy asked her as he stopped walking once the they were a comfortable distance apart to talk to each other from.

Yugure simply shook her head and said," Sorry Ryuuji, haven't seen him since last period before club. Have you seen Shizuka?"

"I think I saw her go to washroom, she seemed upset about something." Ryuuji said as he pointed to the front of the hall," Guessing it has something to do with Satoshi. It's weird, those two were like the dream couple of third-year and now they're like completely different people. Satoshi hasn't really talked to anyone from our group lately, and Shizuka seems really on edge."

"I don't blame her honestly, considering this week everyone from our grade has been trying to get a date for the grad dinner and dance the student council's organized and now, the person she had been planning to go with for months now has broken up with her." Yugure responded thoughtfully.

"Speaking of that dinner, are you going with anyone?" Ryuuji asked her, which made Yugure redden intensely.

"Um, I'm not sure as of yet why?" Yugure sputtered as she quickly shifted her gaze to Renge, who also seemed to be distressed all of a sudden.

"Well, you didn't hear this from me but, Shigeru's been thinking about asking you out for the dance." Ryuuji said in a low voice, looking both ways before he told Yugure and Renge.

Renge seemed very surprised by this, while Yugure to be unimpressed and maybe even a bit disdainful as she narrowed her eyes at Ryuuji. Renge felt like she was missing something as Yugure and Ryuuji stared each other down with Ryuuji shaking his head after a few moments, as if complying to Yugure's unspoken decline.

"I'll see you later." Ryuuji said as he walked away from them. Yugure waved him goodbye and Renge stared at Yugure in suspicion, wondering why she seemed so displeased at the idea of going to the dance with Shigeru. They may've broken up a while ago, but that didn't mean Shigeru didn't deserve another chance, did it?

"So Renge, do you have someone you're planning on taking as your date?" Yugure asked casually as they walked to the washrooms.

Renge scratched the back of her head, taking as long as she possibly could to answer the question, though her answer came to her immediately. Voicing this answer wasn't something she had prepared herself for as of yet, and she wondered if she was going to surprise anyone with her answer but, surprise wasn't what she was worried to see in Yugure when she answered the question. It was disgust.

"I was thinking about asking Nao." Renge replied, her voice getting quieter with each word to the point where the dictation of Nao's name was barely audible.

"Asking Nao?" Yugure repeated in an unintentionally loud voice. Renge's pupil shrunk in panic as she clamped Yugure's mouth shut with her hand in an instant, getting ready to reprimand her.

"Not so loud!" She yelled-whisper before she slowly removed her hand away from Yugure's mouth.

Yugure chuckled awkwardly before saying," Well, I don't think there's a problem in it."

"Y-you don't?" Renge asked as she looked at Yugure, her eyes still wide considering she was expecting Yugure to have been less ok with this notion.

"No, but...you guys did break up a while ago. So why the sudden interest in asking him now?" Yugure asked her in concern as Renge felt her heart writhe a little inside of herself.

 _"It's no sudden interest, I've been wanting Nao to been my grad date since we were dating. It seems so stupid of me to be this hung up on him, despite the fact that we don't see each other as often, but...when we do see each other it's like I can still feel that connection from a few months ago. As if, his feelings for me never died either. When I pass him in the halls, I swear it feels like he's looking at me seconds before I give myself the chance to get a glimpse of him. It's a little frustrating to be honest, to have these feelings continue to surface at random when I haven't talked to him in a while. I never fixed things between us, and I've yet to see him take initiative in anything regarding our relationship, or rather, whatever is left of it. So, maybe he's just waiting for me to try and mend things again."_ Renge thought to herself.

"There's nobody else I'd rather go with." Renge simply confessed," I'm thinking about getting Kokoro to help me ask him since she knows him excruciatingly well."

"Hm, well, maybe you should ask him soon." Yugure suggested plainly before Shizuka emerged from the washrooms.

"I was thinking the same thing to be honest." Renge said, taking a deep breath as Shizuka walked up to the girls. She looked miserable with her typically bright perky eyes red and messy, faint streaks of mascara had been smudged onto her cheeks. Her hair seemed a bit messy too as her usual effortless wavy curls had been replaced with flat, somewhat frizzy locks.

"Hey." Was all Shizuka said to the girls, her tone neutral and quiet. Yugure and Renge smiled to Shizuka awkwardly before she explained to the girls why she had assembled the three of them here today.

"So, I'm guessing you guys want to know why I brought you guys here today." Shizuka began slowly, Renge hearing her voice crack a little before Shizuka exhaled a large sigh," Ok, I'm worried about Satoshi."

"Define worried." Renge interrupted.

"Well, he seems so...I don't know, vacant lately. Like, his mind is elsewhere. It's like something's eating away at him, but I don't what it is! And it's not like I can ask him, considering he probably won't give me the time of day and since I never even see him outside of class anymore." Shizuka explained distressfully, her hands unconsciously fidgeting as she thought about Satoshi.

"So we're looking for Satoshi today?" Yugure asked her.

Shizuka nodded attentively and vigorously," I have a few places that are worth scoping out, come on."

Kanari sat inside the near empty classroom beside Tsubaki, who was working on some questions that Kanari made for her. As Tsubaki worked tirelessly on the problems in front of her, Kanari watched her work away, having nothing better to do. Her blue eyes were fixated onto her paper as she was in deep thought, trying to solve the second question on the page. Today, her lemon yellow hair had been gathered up into a enormous bun and was quickly letting loose strands emerge as she continued to internally stress over not being able to understand the second question immediately. In just a few seconds, she was probably going to admit defeat and ask Kanari for help with this question, but it was worth a shot to try and see if her original solution was going to work. No dice, her answer seemed completely off, and she didn't even need to look at her answer key to know that she had the wrong answer. Tsubaki and looked over to Kanari, who simply gave her a smile of sympathy and took a scrap piece of paper from her binder.

"It's easier than you think, at least, when you have someone explaining it to you." Kanari declared as began to write on the scrap piece of paper," Just remember, Y equals mx + b for a question worded like this."

"Every time I hear that stupid phrase I get a headache." Tsubaki muttered as she wrote the formula on the corner of her sheet, before realizing she had just said that out loud," Not because of your tutoring of course! I've just never ever been good at math and I've been passing with high sixties ever since middle school."

"It's alright, math isn't really everyone's or rather, most people's strongest subject." Kanari reasoned as Tsubaki went back to work on her question.

"But, it seems to come so naturally to people like you who are actually really good at it. I don't think I've ever seen you stumped on a math question." Tsubaki stated, still working on the second math question," I guess that makes you blessed."

Kanari thought about the statement for a few moments and just before she was about to dispel the notion, Tsubaki asked her,"Do you have a date for the grad dinner?"

Kanari's pupils shrunk for a moment and her heart started racing uncontrollably as she stammered out," N-no, any reason why?"

"Just curious." Tsubaki answered tonelessly," It's seems like everyone's already got a date by now. Well, _almost_ everyone."

"Are you thinking about asking somebody out?" Kanari asked, not realizing how red her face was getting.

"Well...I mean, there is someone I'd loved to go with, but they'd never want to go with me." Tsubaki said, her eyes downcast on her page as she drawing colouring a black little circle onto her page," Not to mention...oh God."

"I'm sorry?" Kanari said as she watched Tsubaki stare vacantly into the doorway of the classroom. Standing there was Kyo, looking around the room curiously as if he had forgotten something here. Before going to the two of them in the room, he walked slowly around the room, looking for whatever he forgot.

"Have you seen a grey scientific calculator with black and blue buttons around here?" Kyo asked them, not even making eye-contact with them as he continued to search the room while walking up to them. Kyo stood in front of them and Tsubaki was having trouble trying to form a decent sentence in front of him, before noticing what the calculator she had been using for the last hour looked like.

"O-oh, goodness I think I've been using yours for the last hour! I'm super sorry about that!" Tsubaki apologized as she snatched the calculator off the table and shakily handed it to Kyo.

"Thanks." Was literally all he said, only making eye contact for a second before he walked out of the room.

Once Kyo was out of the room, Tsubaki exasperated out an incredibly large sigh, slinking into her chair and resting her head against the desk.

"I'm such a mess around him..." Tsubaki sobbed, with Kanari awkwardly patting her back.

"That's the person you like?" Kanari asked her, eyes narrowed as Tsubaki groaned in frustration. Tsubaki nodded weakly and Kanari just let a tiny sigh escape her lips. Kanari looked over to the doorway where Kyo was just a few moments ago. Tsubaki seemed to have undoubtedly terrible taste in men, considering Kyo literally fled from their company and just retrieved his calculator while barely acknowledging the girls' presence. He had absolutely no tact and failed to noticed Tsubaki's painfully cute fluster in front of him. The thought of those two together was near inconceivable for Kanari, even while she knew about Tsubaki's apparently one-sided crush. But then, when Kanari turned to face Tsubaki to inform her this, Tsubaki still managed to looked distressed with Kyo now gone, yet she was sporting a strange lovesick looking smile.

"Why are you smiling?" Kanari asked in confusion as Tsubaki looked down into her lap.

"Well, I did use his calculator." Tsubaki said, though it didn't sound like the statement was directed to Kanari, before she placed her hands over her eyes,"I'm so hopeless..."

"Not you're not!" Kanari claimed, though she wasn't sure why she was doing this," You just need to take some initiative and ask him out yourself! Don't let this drag on for it to go nowhere, you don't have to wait for him to ask you out."

 _"Though I doubt he would."_ Kanari thought to herself.

"You think I should?" Tsubaki asked nervously as she dried her eyes.

"Sure! Renge's done it and she got a boyfriend, and if she can do it then so can you!" Kanari encouraged as she gave her a giant grin and thumbs-up.

Tsubaki seemed mildly intrigued by Kanari's first statement," Renge has a boyfriend?"

"Well, h _ad._ " Kanari rectified sheepishly,"But I really think you should try ask him out! It's worth a shot isn't it?"

"I don't know, I've never actually asked a boy out before." Tsubaki declared worriedly," I usually just wait out my feelings instead of acting on them."

"But what if that guy likes you back?" Kanari pointed out," Wouldn't it suck if that was case?"

"I guess..." Tsubaki responded quietly, her gaze shifting to her worksheet," Alright, I'll do it tomorrow. And you're going to accompany me since you've encouraged me to do this."

"Um, sure of course." Kanari said as Tsubaki began picking up her textbook and worksheets to place them into her bag.

"I still want to know how you got so good at math though," Tsubaki stated all of a sudden as she and Kanari started walking out of the room," Was it really just luck that you'd happened to be as good as you are?"

"It's a long story." Kanari simply answered as she scratched her cheek.

"I'd loved to hear it." Tsubaki beamed before she and Kanari went their separate ways.

As Kanari walked out of the school, she felt herself get immensely excited for tomorrow though she wasn't actually sure why and was starting to wonder if she had just confused her excitement for nervousness. She folded her laced hands behind her head and walked passed the school yard, wearing only a spring jacket over her uniform. The days were getting marginally warmer now and the snow was nothing but a memory now. As she walked to the bus stop, she saw two kids, one boy and girl, who appeared to be either in middle-school or in first year at the very most sitting on the bench at the bus stop.

"Stupid Mr Kawasaki, giving me a twelve percent on the last test." The boy grumbled as he furiously crumpled up a sheet of paper in his hands, throwing it into the street.

"Aruhi, you shouldn't do that. Mr Kawasaki said we have to show our test papers to our parents." The girl said to him in concern with her brows furrowed.

"Screw that! There's no way they're seeing that math test." Aruhi grumbled," It's not like you got a better mark either Aika." The girl took a glance at the test paper in her hands, with a grade of forty-one percent written on it.

"I hate math so much, if my parents saw that mark they'd killed me!" Aruhi groaned as he held his head in his hands. Aika just sighed, likely in agreement as she scrutinized her test paper.

 _"Kawasaki...he's the middle-school math teacher."_ Kanari thought to herself as she looked at the two kids _," I wonder what chapter they're doing right now."_

"Get a bad mark?" Kanari asked the two of them casually as she approached them.

"Try worst mark in class." Aruhi spat out bitterly," Kawasaki's a jerk, he's making us take a retest against our will, like we want to go through the same torment again. I hate his dumb class!"

"It's my first failing grade ever." Aika declared as Kanari sat beside her on the bench, showing her the grade.

"Pythagorean Theorem." Kanari noted as she looked at the test sheet in her small hands," Well, why I do agree with you two about your opinion on Kawasaki, I for one think think math is actually important."

"When am I ever going use this garbage anyways?" Aruhi shouted as he pointed to one question on Aika's test sheet. Kanari looked at the page and took it from Aika, trying to think of an answer for Aruhi.

"You guys like road trips?" Kanari asked, not taking her eyes away from the paper as she looked at the first questions.

"Sometimes, but what does that have to do with the Pythagorean Theorem?" Aruhi asked her as he arched an eyebrow.

"Ok, name a place you want to go to." Kanari instructed, prompting Aruhi to begin to brainstorm some destinations. Finally, after a couple more moments he looked at Kanari dead in the eyes and said," Shinjuzaki Beach."

"That's only a half hour away!" Aika shouted, with Kanari waving a hand of dismissal to her.

"It'll work. So, let's say that Shinjuzaki Beach is this spot right here," Kanari began as she drew a triangle on the back of Aika's test, coloring in a large dot in the top of the triangle" So, there are two routes you could take; one has you going straight for three kilometers and then taking a right and getting you there in four more kilometers. The other one simply has you going straight down to get there."

Kanari then took out her phone and began punching in numbers into her calculator app," So, if we square-"

"Wait! This is the part that screws me over." Aruhi interjected," Why do we need to square the numbers?"

"The sum of the two squared sides is going to equal the square of the leg we need to calculate the length for." Kanari answered," So, if we multiply three by three and get nine, and then multiply four by four and get sixteen, we then need to subtract nine from sixteen."

"It's seven!" Aika chimed in before Kanari could subtract the two numbers.

"Would you like to do the honours?" Kanari then asked her as she handed Aika her phone. Aika slowly took Kanari's phone and looked down at the virtual keyboard, trying to find the button for the square root function.

"It's this one right?" Aika asked as she pointed to the button that resembled a check mark. Kanari nodded and Aika pressed it.

"It's two point six, I think." Aika declared as she gave Kanari her phone back. Kanari then went onto Google and started to search something up, not saying a single word as she did so.

Aruhi looked at her impatiently, saying,"What are you-?"

Kanari showed the two of them her phone, having typed up the problem onto the search bar and revealing the correct answer to be two point six. The two of them looked at her in astonishment while she snickered.

"We got it right!" Aruhi exclaimed as he stared at the phone screen, not noticing the bus coming from around the corner.

"Maybe this problem wasn't as hard as we thought, or we'll just really stupid..." Aika admitted sheepishly as she looked down at her test paper. Kanari held her index finger up to her and waved in a disagreeing manner.

"Don't assume you're stupid for not understanding it immediately, what's stupid is letting yourself believe that it can't be solved." Kanari declared as the three of them got onto the bus. The two middle-schoolers sat at the back of the bus while Kanari sat over at the front, having a fondness for the view as she seldom took this route. This bus ran every half-hour and was a nice alternate route for herself and Renge, though the two of them almost never rode this bus together. This route however, was longer but it was generally a quiet ride as the bus mostly went into the neighborhoods of Ozawa rather than go on the main roads.

Kanari looked down at her phone, the calculator app still opened. The bus was only populated by herself, and the two middle-schoolers; granting her the ability to listen in a little on their conversation. It wasn't that of an interesting one, considering that they were only talking about things like gym class and their own friends. Then, just before Kanari off the bus as her stop had come into view, she heard Aruhi grumble.

"It was really good of that girl to help us, but I can't say this changes anything about my opinion on math, it's still as frustrating as ever."

When Kanari got off the bus, she saw Aruhi looking as what most likely had been another test sheet that he had in his bag through the window. The bus drove away deeper into the neighborhood and Kanari walked to her house.

The walk was about five minutes or so because of the alternate route, and the little walk to her house gave Kanari time to think about what Aruhi had said before he got off the bus.

As Kanari walked into her house, it being currently almost vacant if it wasn't for Blake sleeping upstairs as her dad was at work and her mom had taken Ando to a dentist appointment, she lounged on the the three-seater in the living room.

"It's weird being able to find comfort in something few can enjoy..." Kanari said aloud absently as she looked up towards the ceiling," Sometimes, it's just the teacher. Other times, it really is a struggle to try and get through a question.

"It's even weirder when this 'talent' of mine either makes people think I'm either blessed or insane." Kanari added, inserting bunnyquotes on talent with her hands,"Always one or the other, never really in between."

Thinking about this made Kanari think about that question that usually followed whenever people discovered her little math talent.

 _"Did you really get this on the first try? Does it just all come naturally to you?"_

 _The answer is yes and no. I never really thought I was going to be as good as math as I am now, but...that didn't mean I was dreading math before I first discovered my love for it. I was probably about eight at the time and I was as normal as any other kid, but if there was one thing that set me apart from the rest of my classmates, it was the silent jealousy I harbored for my sister. She was twelve at the time and she was doing things like hanging out with her cool-looking friends more often and talking about teenager stuff on the phone with her friends all the time (despite being only thirteen.) Mom said she was just going through some changes when Sayaka refused to play with me and say she'd rather be watching Ando watch his favourite tv shows. She was really moody for a thirteen year old, but that wasn't what made me jealous of her. It was the fact that she was on the volleyball team and that she was getting all of our mom's attention as my mom had been MVP on her high-school volleyball team. With all of the increased interest in Sayaka's life and afterschool activities from our mom, I felt really left out. Sayaka was making our mom really proud by being on the volleyball team and I wanted to do the same; the make her proud thing I mean, not volleyball._

 _I remembered one night, with just a few minutes before I went to bed, I heard my mom shouting at Sayaka because she had failed what apparently her third math test for the year. Sayaka wasn't able to formulate an adequate response upon being asked why she didn't ask for help and simply said," Because math sucks mom!"_

 _Mom said nothing for a few long moments, a long enough to concern Sayaka greatly as she weakly said," M-mom?"_

 _"I don't care whether or not you think math sucks Sayaka, but I'm not going to stand here and let you do nothing about your grades. First thing tomorrow morning, I'm getting you a tutor." Mom said in her sternest tone._

 _Sayaka began to bawl while shouting," Mom I don't want a tutor! I can do this by myself!"_

 _"Sayaka, this isn't up for debate. You need all the help you can get, there's no way I'm going to let you fail another test." Mom said before she left the room, leaving Sayaka to cry all by herself in her room._

 _I remember laying awake in bed longer than usual that night as Sayaka's bawling slowly turning into barely audible sobbing. I felt really bad for her, despite the fact that she snapped at me a couple of hours ago for borrowing one of her favourite pencils without her permission. I started wondering if there was anything I could do to help her. It came to me in an instant, and though I was younger and therefore allegedly unable to understand her homework I had my mind made up. I was going to work as hard as I could on my math skills to help my older sister._

 _I don't think I had ever worked so hard in my life to master something and while a lot of the lessons in my workbook for my year were easy enough upon reading the instructions, there were a few problems I faced once I tried to work on the problems from the textbooks that were a year ahead of me._

 _My mom and Sayaka eventually noticed that all I mostly seemed to be doing was math and my mom was feeling both immensely proud yet concerned at the same time. Whenever she asked me why I was working on math from fourth grade textbooks, all I said was, "Secret." and continued to work away. There were so many days when I got too frustrated to work and soon, once I was working near the middle of the fourth grade textbooks, I took week long periods away from working in the textbooks because I was getting so sick of math. I think the longest I went without working ahead on in those textbooks I borrowed from the library was about four weeks or so. I quickly got back into it once I heard Sayaka sobbing into the phone from her room saying she couldn't go to her friend's sleepover because she got grounded after failing another test and not telling our mom about it. I ripped out the textbook from under my bed and started working at it again. I was looking at the question I had left unfinished for a near month and was drawing a blank, not sure of how to do it._

 _I read over the formula again and believed I found a solution from reading over the formula. I worked quick and was jabbing numbers into my calculator quickly and when I came to answer, I checked the back of the book to see if it was right._

 _To my surprise it wasn't and I was super upset about it. I nearly cried as I looked down at the page, trying to figure out what I did wrong._

 _Just then, Sayaka came into my room, probably to ask if she could borrow something but whatever it was that she originally came in for I'll never know as she ended up running over to me as she saw me curled up into a ball on my bed with the math textbook in front of me._

 _"What are you doing?" Sayaka asked as she ran over to me and looked at the book beside me," Ugh, you're working ahead_ again? _"_

 _This accusation and the bitterness in her tone took me by surprise, but I couldn't say a word, knowing I would probably burst into tears if I tried to do so._

 _"Why? Why have you been trying to work ahead and show off?" Sayaka questioned sounding unreasonably upset._

 _"I was just trying to help." I ended up saying before I bursted into tears._

 _Sayaka then looked really regretful and sat beside me with a guilty expression on her face only saying," All of this working ahead...was for me?"_

 _I never was able to catch up with Sayaka and help her, but instead, she suggested I try helping out some of the kids in my class in an effort to not let all of my hard work go to waste. I did end up doing that for a solid year and then I kinda just stopped after losing interest. But, it felt good to help out my classmates, it felt good to do something for them._

Kanari then crossed her legs on the couch, and thought about what Tsubaki said to her before the two of them parted ways.

 _"I'd love to hear it."_

"I wonder if she actually meant that..." Kanari thought to herself as she stared down at the floor. She then reached into her shirt and pulled out a chain slung around her neck that she had been wearing the entire time. On the pendant of the chain was a seahorse, revealing it to be the necklace the Tsubaki gave her for Christmas. She was zoning out as she started gazing at it.

"Agh, no!" Kanari shouted as she let go of the pendant, snapping herself to her senses before she got too deep into her own thoughts," I'm going to support Tsubaki as much as I can tomorrow and help her get a grad date!"

Renge laid awake in bed, later than she had ever expected with only a half hour until midnight. Squinting at her phone screen with her glasses on her side-table, she felt her heart throb madly as she looked at the text she just sent.

 _"Hey Kokoro, sorry for bugging you at this late hour but, I was just wanting to know...how would I go about asking a certain someone aka Nao, to be my grad date?"_

"I keep asking Kokoro for help because I have no idea what I'm doing half the time and I'm too scared to ruin things, as usual. I'm such a wimp." Renge groaned as she continued to look at the screen.

 _"It seems I'm always coming to Kokoro for answers when it comes to Nao and it's weird knowing I'm on better terms with my ex's ex rather than ex."_

"She must hate it whenever I bring up Nao...I'm being too insensitive, maybe I should just-" Renge was about to tell Kokoro to completely disregard that last message before she received a response from Kokoro.

 _"Hm, well, I think you should go about it casually even though I know that likely isn't going to be the easiest thing but it would make the both of you feel less uncomfortable. Because, aside from myself, Nao's never been asked out to be someone's grad date, at least as far as I know. He'd probably be just as awkward as you would be if you over think things while asking him out. Just be calm, normal and hope for the best. Try and make things light between you and him try not to bring up the break-up in a negative sense. If you feel like you need to, you can say something like, 'I know things we a little confusing when we were together...' and one more thing, try not to make it sound like you're pressuring him into going with you. Because, that actually freaks him out when he gets pressured into things. Just be yourself and I'm sure things will be fine. If you also want me to tag along for support, I'd be happy to come~"_

"How is she so good at this?" Renge wondered aloud quietly before texting her response.

 _"Alright, I'd love for you to come along, make things a little less tense, So at lunch tomorrow? Thanks for your help!"_ Renge texted back before she turned off her phone.

"Is this really going to work?" Renge asked herself very quietly before she went to sleep.

The next day, Renge stood in the back hall, her eyes downcast and her heart accelerating. She stood in a corner where she couldn't be seen by those in the back hall and took a deep breath as she waited for Kokoro to come out of her class.

"What if I start rambling?" Renge said to herself in her most quiet voice as she looked around the hall, making sure no one was in sight," What if I forget to ask him? What if I freeze up?"

"Is this really worth the trouble?" Renge asked herself quietly before she saw Kokoro walking up to her. She then remembered those times of pure joy she had with Nao at her side in art club and wasn't able to think of anything else for those next few moments.

"It is." Renge answered herself as Kokoro greeted her with a smile.

"Ready?" Kokoro asked her.

Renge found herself unable to respond and nodded weakly as she and Kokoro walked up to the spot where Nao usually had lunch. Kokoro led the way cheerfully while Renge was too busy to notice the other kids glancing at her briefly, too occupied by her own internal screaming.

Meanwhile, outside in the school's front yard, Tsubaki was standing behind a tree with Kanari at her side. Tsubaki gazed at Kyo sitting with his group of friends on the lawn and shut her eyes tightly while shaking her head.

"I can't do it! There's too many people around!" Tsubaki declared in panic.

"Want me to scare them away?" Kanari offered.

Tsubaki sniffled and looked at Kanari with a puzzled expression before asking her," How are you going to-?"

"Rawr!" Kanari shouted as she bared her canine teeth, pretending to be a tiger.

"What are you doing?" Tsubaki asked between laughs, feeling a little less stressed out and more grateful for the comfort and ease Kanari provided her by just being here," Thanks for coming. I don't think I would've been able to even stand here right now without you at my side.

"Don't mention it!" Kanari responded with a giggle as she put her hand behind her head," Now, go get yourself a grad date."

Tsubaki nodded and walked over to Kyo and his friends slowly. Everyone in Kyo's group noticed Tsubaki walking to Kyo except Kyo himself. Tsubaki took a deep breath and didn't let this faze her as she drew closer.

"Hi Kyo." Tsubaki said softly as she stood in front of him," Um, could we talk for a moment?"

Kyo stood up and Tsubaki walked him over to the tree that she had been standing at a few moments ago, with Kanari standing a few feet away from them, pretending she was minding her own business as she played a game on her phone.

"I have to do this! I absolutely have to!" Tsubaki said in her head," Kyo, would you like to be my grad date?"

Kanari stopped playing her game and her eyes went over to Kyo and Tsubaki. Standing in front of Kyo, who was about the same height as the tall girl, Tsubaki looked completely different with that very timid expression on her face that she tried masking with a kind smile.

Kyo didn't even smile back or anything and just looked at her with his typical neutral expression, saying," I'm taking somebody else, sorry."

Tsubaki looked at Kyo wide-eyed with hurt and simply smiled as she replied," Ok, I hope you and your date have fun together."

Kyo walked away and Kanari rushed up to Tsubaki who looked like she was on the brink of bursting into tears.

"You know, this is ok! Actually this is good, great even! You don't need to have him as your date anyways considering how inconsiderate he's been to you all this time!" Kanari claimed.

"Or maybe dating just isn't for me." Tsubaki suggested solemnly," I'm only good for annoying and irritating the boys I crush on."

"If you want a date so badly, then I'll be happy to be your date!" Kanari declared in a tone louder than intended. Some people stared at her curiously and in the heat of the moment before she could hear Tsubaki's response, she ran away. Off into the direction of the school and into it's doors she dashed into from.

"Nao," Kokoro said as she and Renge stood in front of Nao, who was watching some video on his tablet.

"Yes?" Nao replied dully as he looked up to Renge and Kokoro.

"Renge has something she'd like to ask you." Kokoro began as she looked over to Renge, who looked over at Nao with fear in her eyes.

 _"I'm just going to get rejected."_ She thought to herself and in an instant, she ran off.

"Renge?!" Kokoro shouted as she tried grabbing onto Renge to keep her from running, but was too late," Just give us a second."

Renge ran as fast as her legs could take her, not having run so fast in such a long time.

Kanari shook her head as she ran away, feeling absolutely humiliated by none than herself for asking Tsubaki such a thing when she clearly really liked Kyo.

The two of them bumped into each and fell to their feet, moaning as they rubbed their backs tenderly.

"Oh my god, that hurts..." Renge griped as she rubbed her shoulders," Kanari?"

"Renge?" Kanari said with her eyes narrowed," What are you doing?"

"Running away from my feelings what else?" Renge answered haughtily as she slowly got up," What are _you_ doing?"

"Same thing you were doing." Kanari replied awkwardly as she rubbed the nape of her neck.

Renge eyed her in suspicion and asked," What?"

"I just offered to be Tsubaki's grad date." Kanari confessed with a drawn out sigh.

Renge raised her eyebrows and said," And, you didn't want to come to me for advice or anything? I would've love to help, you know that right?"

"Look, it was a spur of the moment thing, I didn't think I would do it." Kanari stated in dismissal," I didn't think you would've wanted to considering your break-up with Nao a little while ago. Wait, why were you running away from your feelings?"

"I was about to ask Nao to be my grad date."

Kanari looked down at her feet as she got up, saying nothing but," Oh."

 _"It's weird, all of a sudden...she feels distant."_ The both of them thought to themselves.

"I guess I'll just uh..." Kanari said as she pointed to the direction from which she came.

"Yeah um, me too..." Renge said as she pointed in the other direction. The two of them went their separate ways, feeling quite confused as they walked off.

Renge decided to instead walk outside into the east school yard, where she would enter the school again from the other doors that would let her successfully evade Nao and Kokoro. That was so embarrassing, being unable to say anything to him and just running off. She didn't even ask him, she just ran without saying a single word.

"He's just one person, why is this so hard?" Renge asked herself before she finally took notice of someone who had been calling her name for a few minutes now.

"Renge~!" Yugure shouted.

Renge spun her head around and saw Yugure standing a few feet away from her, offering a small smile of concern.

"Hey," Renge said as she slowly walked up to her.

"Is there something wrong?" Yugure inquired as Renge came closer. Renge stared at Yugure for a few moments, trying to decide whether or not telling Yugure what just happened was going to benefit her.

After exhaling out a large sigh, Renge nodded and answered," I don't think I've been a good friend to Kanari lately."

Kanari just ran again, towards the west entrance of the school, not wanting to cross paths with Tsubaki again. She had a feeling that Tsubaki was probably looking for her, but she really didn't care. She just wanted be alone so badly right now. Kanari shut her eyes for a moment and just then she heard someone shouting her name before she made it through the doors of the west entrance.

Kanari skidded to a stop unwillingly, not even trying to identify whose voice it was as she looked over and saw Chiyo standing beside the doorway.

"I'm not in the mood right now Chi."Kanari declared as she pushed the doors of the west entrance open.

Chiyo complied and didn't say anything more, but Kanari felt herself wavering as she pushed the door. She knew she really didn't want to talk to Renge right now and the last thing she wanted was to go see Tsubaki, so maybe Chiyo would've served as a nice alternative.

"Me and Renge having been...it's feels like we've been drifting apart lately." Kanari explained.

"A bad friend to Kanari? How?" Yugure questioned in astonishment as she and Renge sat on the grass of the lawn. Renge didn't make eye-contact once within the last few minutes as her thoughts were distracting her, reminding her of how needlessly secretive she had been over the last few months.

"I guess I made her feel like I wasn't there for her or something. We don't tell each other things like we used to." Renge confessed.

"Is this all because she didn't tell you about her tutoring sessions with Tsubaki and that she was going to help her confess to Kyo today?" Yugure questioned as she looked at Renge with a worried look in her eyes.

Renge shook her head, resting her head on her fist as she said," No, not entirely. We don't hang out as much as we used to and, she didn't even tell me that she had patched up things with Miki and to top it all off, I let her go into that Delinquous a few weeks back, knowing that she was claustrophobic. What kind of friend does that?"

"She's been insincere lately, she never ever tells about her problems. But, I know she's having a hard time, I can see it in her face, but she refuses to tell me anything. Does she think I won't understand or something? Because even if I don't, I could still try couldn't I? I'm still a little surprised that I found out about her break-up along with all of you guys at the same time and that I didn't hear about it from Renge herself." Kanari explained, feeling as if a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She and Chiyo were currently sitting under a tree and Chiyo was listening intently while remaining silent during Kanari's confession.

"Renge's always been shy right? So, maybe she's just uncomfortable with the idea of confiding in people." Chiyo suggested.

"But, I'm her best friend. If she feels like she can't tell me anything, then what kind of friend does that make me?" Kanari asked her, looking at Chiyo with a worn-out expression on her face," And, she's also been hanging out with Yugure and Shizuka a lot lately, like she's been avoiding me."

"Well, can you blame her?" Chiyo asked, catching Kanari off-guard," You've been spending a lot of time with Maizawa as of lately."

"But, we just got back to being friends a little while ago." Kanari claimed in her defense.

"It is anything different than Renge suddenly hanging out with Shizuka? Because,the two of you are still neglecting each other." Chiyo stated sternly," Renge may have not been right for spend less time with you and more than Shizuka but, you're not necessarily any better since you've been forgetting about Renge and hanging out with Maizawa. And shall I remind you of ditching her at the party? What about her play?"

"Ok, I've done things to Renge that weren't things a best friend does but...friendships are a joint effort. How am I supposed to show her I care when she won't do the same? We've known each for years now and it's frustrating to know that it hasn't gotten any easier for her to confide in me despite how long I've been here." Kanari exasperated.

Chiyo took a deep breath and looked at Kanari saying," It's girls like her who needed to be reassured that they have others to confide in, not because they don't believe you'd care but rather, they don't believe they have it in them to voice they're problems without your support. You did say friendships were a joint effort, didn't you?"

"You know Renge, not telling Kanari about your worries and issues is probably making her feel like you don't see a friend in her anymore." Yugure reasoned after Renge just confessed what had been on her mind lately.

"Why? I mean, I know I don't tell her things but, at least I'm there for her!" Renge said in her defense.

"Friendships need trust so, trusting in Kanari and telling her your problems may seem risky to you but, would not telling her and worrying her in the process be any better?" Yugure asked her," Rose and Skyla wouldn't have approved of this, would they?"

Renge's head shot up and she looked at Yugure in shock, only being able to say," How did you-?"

"-That day when we had the barbeque. Me and Chiyo found your note from ten years ago." Yugure explained.

Just then, a loud piercing shriek could be heard coming from the track on the other side of the school. Renge and Yugure looked at each and nodded before running towards the school track.

The two of them saw History and Arithmetic fighting against a Delinquous made from what seemed to be a phone that was currently stuck on the stop-watch app, showing that they only had three minutes until something would happen.

"Just in time girls!" History shouted as she jumped onto a tree and leapt onto the Delinquous from it.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" Renge and Yugure shouted in unison.

"The subject of writing and awe-striking empathy, Cure Literature!"

"The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!"

Zephora looked very uninterested in today's battle, as her mind seemed to be elsewhere. She remembered how she overheard a conversation between Vice and Temptasia and it was all she could think about right now.

 _"Phase two starts today, alright Vice? Don't disappoint me." Temptasia said to Vice before he left. Zephora stayed around a little longer just to see what they were going to talk about after Temptasia told Vice to stay back for a few minutes after Zephora," Though I could never see you ever doing such a thing."_

Currently for all she knew, Vice was lurking around the school for something, but she didn't know what it was that he was searching for. Did Temptasia have a lead on the book? But, they couldn't touch it. Well, they couldn't when the scepters were being used to purify a Delinquous. Maybe Temptasia found her mole.

"Rishi once said I knew too much for my own good. He's probably right." Zephora remarked with a shrug.

"This Delinquous going to disperse into thin air and corrupt everyone at the school's Inner Scholar if we don't purify it in time!" Arithmetic declared as she summoned her Algorithm sword.

"Jika would approve." Zephora commented flatly.

Arithmetic plunged her sword into the back of the Delinquous and found herself unable to get the sword out as she tried pulling it out with all her might. The Delinquous noticed that someone had been on it's after a few moments and tried swatting them away. Literature then jumped high and kicked the Delinquous hard enough so that it would fall flat on it's face, causing Arithmetic to fly up a little and pull her sword out with the help of Cure Literature.

"Go!" Arithmetic and Literature shouted to History and Science, who had their scepters in hand already.

"Pretty Cure, Storming legend!" History shouted as her scepter transformed into it's staff form in mid-sentence.

"Pretty Cure, Galactic Mirage!" Science yelled as her scepter turned into it's caduceus form.

Their attacks together were enough to short-circuit the Delinquous and once it got hit, it was fried and defeated, unable to move an inch.

"Now!" Literature and Arithmetic shouted in unison.

"As my journey to find myself begins, I call upon my scholar within!" Literature chanted to summon Lia who conjured up the bright gold key.

"Boom snap clap!" Arithmetic cheered to summon Bertie who conjured up the metallic blue key.

The girls inserted the keys into the bottom of their scepters and they all held the scepters up high.

"With ardency!" Literature shouted.

"With precision!" Arithmetic shouted.

"With justice!" History shouted.

"With wonder!" Science shouted.

"Pretty Cure, Scholastic Examination!" They shouted in unison, with the atmosphere around them turning white.

"A-plus!" The Cures exclaimed together, each of them giving a wink as they did so, with only eighteen seconds to spare before time ran out on the Delinquous' timer.

"Maybe Vice found his mole or whatever he was looking for by now." Zephora thought to herself idly as she disappeared.

Once Zephora left, Literature looked over to Arithmetic with sincerely apologetic look on her face.

"Kanari, I'm sorry for the way I've been treating you lately. I'm sorry for not wanting to confide in you because I felt like I'd be a burden, despite the fact that you're my best friend." Literature apologized.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for your play and ditching you at the party and for ever making you feel like you couldn't depend on or confide in me. You know I'm always here for you, right?" Arithmetic asked.

"I do now." Literature said as she hugged Arithmetic.

"I need to find Kanari, but I don't know where to look." Tsubaki sighed as she checked behind a tree with only about five minutes left until class. Most of the students that had lunch outside cleared out from the school yard by now and Tsubaki was the person out now.

"I hope we find her soon..." Tsubaki said as she looked down at her feet, taking a momentary break from her search.

"Maybe she just went to class." A bright green little creature with magenta eyes suggested from beside her.

"Perhaps but, she looked so panicked, I can't get that look she had in her eyes out of my head." Tsubaki confessed," Hoops, want to check behind that tree?"

Hoops didn't give her a response.

"Hoops?" Tsubaki repeated, curious to why Hoops didn't respond to her as she turned around. She went pale with fear seconds later as she was face to face with Vice who had Hoops in his grasp.

Tsubaki could barely make a sound and finally stammered out," G-give Hoops back now!"

Vice snapped his finger and a dark indigo haze circled around Tsubaki and drifted her into a deep sleep, having her falling into Vice's arms.

"Phase two is now a quarter complete." Vice declared as he disappeared with Tsubaki.


	30. Nice to meet you, Xan

"What a pleasant scene." Yugure said quietly a she let out a peaceful sigh after taking a sip from her slushie cup. It was a mostly clear Sunday afternoon, and a mildly warm one too. It had been raining for the most of the but finally about a half hour ago, the rain and clouds finally cleared up, bringing a bit of sunshine to this day before night fall. She was walking from the convenience store with Rishi and felt that strange sensation of tranquility again at his side. The walk from the convenience store and back had been quite fun for the both of them, Yugure bought and introduced Rishi to slushies and sour candy that came in cups for a dollar. For once, she wasn't the one in wonder out of the two of them. Spending time with him was in truth much more fun than she expected but, she knew she had to ask him a few things before their little outing was over.

"So, why side with Temptasia?" She asked him, unwavering while taking a pause from walking and looking him dead in the eyes," Or, stay on Temptasia's side?"

Rishi looked at her in surprise and simply smirked," I was wondering if you were going to ask that."

"I'm asking you now because I feel as if I rushed into things but, I won't leave you unless you give a reason worthy enough to." Yugure declared sternly, holding eye-contact for so long that she could feel her insides writhe within her.

Rishi took a deep breath, trying to compose himself for the first time in front of Yugure," Temptasia said I had a bright future in my past life. She didn't specify who I was or what I was doing, just a bright future. My life had apparently been cut short and Temptasia said that she could restore everything, reverse the fatality and make it so I could live that life again, full memories and all."

Yugure stared at him, trying to process all of this. His intentions were well, but could Temptasia really do that? And if she could, then at what cost? It was likely that in order for this life of his to be restored, Temptation would've had to win but, if they didn't...what would that mean for Rishi?

He chuckled and shook his head saying,"I know, she probably could be lying to me and I was probably just a NEET or something. But it would've been nice to see whether she was lying or-"

Just then Yugure hugged him to his surprise and awkwardly he just said," What was that for?"

"I...I just felt like you needed it. Sorry." Yugure said as she broke the hug clumsily before looking off into the distance, unsure of what else to say. Judging by that look in Rishi's eyes, he wasn't just curious to know if Temptasia was lying to him. It seemed like he really wanted his old life back, despite only remembering small fragments of it.

Yugure remembered how just about an hour ago, when Rishi decided to show up at her place uninvited yet again (While her parents were out thankfully) he ended up confessing how he had virtually no memories of his past life at all. But he was sure of the fact he did indeed live a normal life before this one.

 _"It's strange, I have some memories that stick around for awhile running through my mind, full of unfamiliar faces and then I have other smaller memories that I'll remember once but then forget the next day. But I remember remembering something." Rishi confided, looking a tad weary as he said that._

 _"It sounds frustrating." Yugure responded with a look of sympathy reflecting in her eyes," So, what can you remember?"_

 _"My birthday and for some reason, I have a strangely abundant knowledge of tattoos." Rishi admitted sheepishly," Yet, I don't have any tattoos."_

 _"Are you sure?" Yugure asked," I could, check for you if you want."_

 _Rishi threw one of her throw pillows at her and laughed while saying," You'd like to, wouldn't you?"_

 _Yugure reddened and threw the throw pillow back even harder at him._

 _"So then, when is your birthday?" Yugure inquired in a bashful voice as she looked at him._

 _"July first." Rishi said with a grin as he wrapped his arms around the throw pillow Yugure just threw at him._

The two of them continued walking and Yugure then all of a sudden asked him," Does Zephora want her memories back too?"

"No." Rishi answered neutrally before taking a sip from his slushie cup, surprising Yugure a little with his response.

"Why not?" Yugure questioned inquisitively.

"Because she already has them." Rishi responded," She claims that she was the greatest person to have ever lived but she says nothing else regarding her previous life. The only thing Temptasia has to offer her is power."

"What do you mean by power?" Yugure asked.

"Exactly that; Something that'll make her stronger than ever before. Or something to enhance her own abilities." Rishi explained as he took a cigarette out from a pack that had been residing in his pocket with his free hand," I don't know why she'd want them since they can be quite the hassle to stabilize."

"Your powers are your abilities to disappear at whim through the glitching out or oozing away and stuff right?" Yugure questioned, receive a nod from Rishi in response," How do you stabilize your powers?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Rishi replied as he put the cigarette behind his right ear.

"However..." Yugure began ominously as they drew nearer to her street with her house coming into view," You say anything uncalled for regarding someone's Inner Scholar during _any_ of our battles, I'll be doing much more than leaving you."

Yugure then sneezed, ruining her moment a little and make the moment a little less tense. Rishi then snickered and Yugure groaned, rolling her eyes as she did so.

"I just want things to work out between us. And even though you said Pretty Cure and Temptation shouldn't interfere with this...it's inevitable now that we're, you know and...I wouldn't have met you if I didn't become a Pretty Cure."

Rishi then sighed before saying," Fine, no more saying anything uncalled for. I guess I'll see you later."

"Wait! One more thing," Yugure said before letting Rishi go," Um, uh...just lean down for a moment?"

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Rishi, being only a few inches taller then Yugure, did as told and went on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. He blushed slightly and then he waved her goodbye as he disappeared. She waved bye to him before he vanished and smiled to herself holding her free hand over her chest. She looked over to her house and decided to enter through the back door today, taking quiet steps towards the gate as she did so. When she got to her back door, her eyes widened at what or rather who, was there awaiting there sitting there on the patio on her back porch.

"It's been awhile, Princess." A boy with raven black hair and kind blue eyes said to her.

Yugure nearly dropped her slushie as she saw the boy sitting at her patio. Her breathing quickened and continued to stare at him feeling very unsure of what to say as he simply smiled at her.

Yugure's breathing slowed down after a few moments and she gave him a small smile," Minato...nice to see you after so long."

"Um, come in." Yugure said as she sped over to the back door and opened it with her key, feeling her heart race uncomfortably as she opened the door. As the two of them walked in, Yugure watched Minato standing in her doorway, taking in the scene, acting as if he hadn't been here in ages.

"It seems like just yesterday I was bringing you back home from a day's worth of fun at the playground." Minato remarked nostalgically as he took off his shoes.

Yugure nodded attentively as Minato looked around the doorway even more. Looking at him look around the room felt unreal, having not seen him for months had been strange but now, having him right before her after all this time felt even stranger. He didn't seem to have changed a bit. Same haircut, same clothes, same warm and bright smile. Minato looked just like how he did when he left months ago. But of course, being away at University in Yozora must've changed him somehow; though Yugure wasn't sure if she was mentally ready to see how he did change.

Yugure lead him to the kitchen and offered him a glass of water as she tried regaining composure while doing so. Yugure felt incredibly tense in Minato's presence and she wasn't sure why. She poured him a glass of water and handed it to him, sitting opposite to him at the table.

"So, how's high-school been?" Minato asked her casually as he swished the cup around, watching the ice-cubes clink against the glass.

"It's been fine." Yugure answered in an artificially calm voice," It's been kinda stressful these last few weeks, but overall this year's been great! I've gotten a little better at Chemistry, and I've made some new friends!"

It was as if Yugure had a small epiphany after saying this, because immediately she zoned out for a few moments before Minato snapped her back to her senses.

"That sounds good. So, did you get accepted into Yozora?" Minato asked her, sounding oddly anxious as he asked this.

Yugure nodded her head vigorously and Minato cheered loudly," Way to go Princess! I knew you could do it!"

Yugure giggled and simply said," Well, I got my letter of acceptance a few weeks ago, I just need to decide on my courses now."

"I'm assuming that means you told your parents about it right?" Minato asked her as he began to swish the cup around again.

Yugure's eyes fell to the counter and said nothing for a few moments. Finally, she looked at Minato with an expression of guilt on her face and Minato was thankfully quick to figure things out without any further implications.

"You know, the longer you take, the more you're going to hurt them." Minato pointed out, his gaze for once not meeting Yugure's.

"I know but either way, it's going to crush them. And, how am I supposed to tell them I don't want to be a Biochemist like them?" Yugure asked him, sounding dead serious as she looked him straight in the eyes.

"Maybe they'll be more supportive then you think." Minato stated as he awkwardly shifted his gaze over to the glass of water, now laying on the table between the two of them.

"Minato, you know what my parents are like." Yugure retorted with a slight scoff," Ever since I was little, they've been saying to everyone they know that 'Oh, Yugure's going to make a fine Biochemist, just like us! There's no way anything would interest her!' What am I supposed to say, that I don't want to be like them, after all this time?"

"Weren't they ever wrong." Minato commented, trying to ease the tension.

"They've been way more, pressuring lately. I'm guessing it's because it's my final year and everything matters here of course." Yugure said with a hint of sarcasm detectable in her tone as she put her head against the counter. Yugure pressed her cheek against the cool counter, not realizing how hot they had become until now.

Minato chuckled and placed his hand on her shoulder as he said," Don't worry, everything will fall into place."

That night, Minato invited Yugure and her family over to have dinner at his place and Yugure's family gladly accepted having not seen Minato in months. It seemed, just like Minato, his house didn't change too much either. While it may've been elegant in appearance, it was still as loud as ever with three boys, now four with Minato back home, residing in it. Minato's two older siblings Raiden, and Hyosuke were arguing about who was going to use the car tonight while the youngest brother, Shun, was trying to get help on his homework from one of them.

"Nothing's changed." Minato and Yugure remarked in unison as they sat at the dinner table.

The dinner was nice and quaint, with Minato making small talk with Yugure's parents as well as his own while Yugure kept quiet for most of the dinner.

"So, Yugure, your mother tells me you're going into Biochemistry yes?" Minato's step-mom asked her politely.

Yugure's gaze went to Minato for a brief second and she immediately responded," Yes I am."

The next day, Renge was about to go out to the mall on a partially clouded Monday morning, having no school today with plans of buying a pair of heels to go with her prom gown. She was humming peacefully as she walked out her house, closing the door behind her as she tried to think of what colour of shoes would go with her dress.

"Black tends to go with everything." Renge noted aloud," But black is outplayed. Maybe something like gold or a copper would look nicer. If I can find anything of those colours."

Renge was too busy thinking about what colour of shoes to purchase that she didn't know a cream and grey coloured bird hurling down towards her at full speed just a few feet above her.

"Look out below~!" The little bird hollered before colliding with Renge.

Renge screamed as the small bird bounced off her face,"Ouch! What the hell was-!"

"-That." Renge stared the bird lying on the pavement blankly. He looked normal for the most part, but the fact that she heard him speak in human tongue made her suspicious very quickly. Renge then crouched down in front of the bird and stared at him before he stood back up.

The bird got up within an instant and brushed itself off with haste before it turned it's attention to Renge," You wouldn't happen to know where the Pretty Cure are, would you?"

Renge blinked for a few moments and simply plucked the bird up, placing it in her cupped hands, and went back inside her house.

In about a half hour, she managed to have Kanari, Chiyo and Yugure all assembled in her room with all of them, including Renny and Topher, circling around the small bird. He looked like Renny and Topher, but he was a whole lot smaller and looked much more innocent compared to two of them.

After a solid few minutes of silence that had been used to scrutinize the little cream coloured bird, Renny finally broke the silence saying," Thank goodness you got here safely Xander."

"Xander?!" The girls all repeated in unison.

"You guys actually know him?" Renge questioned incredulously as she gawked at Xander.

"Isn't that the name of your gecko?" Kanari whispered to Yugure.

"It _was_. She's Xandra now." Yugure whispered back.

"Well yeah. He's our little brother." Renny admitted sheepishly.

"Were you expecting him?" Chiyo asked him as Xander looked around the room, taking in his surroundings with bewilderment.

"Kinda." Renny responded vaguely.

"I don't go by Xander anymore!" Xander exclaimed as he pointed his wing in Renny's direction," From now on, I'm Xan."

Topher then broke into a fit of laughter as he heard that, infuriating Xan in the process," Sorry, you're still Xander to me."

Xan then glared at Topher angrily saying," You guys still think I'm just a little kid don't you? Well, lots have changed since you guys left and I can do _this_ now!"

Xan then snapped his fingers and in an instant, he was transformed into a small, dark-skinned boy with very curly dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He seemed to be about the same height as Kanari and he wore a striped brown white and grey sweater with a pair of grey shorts and dark brown shoes. He tapped his foot impatiently as if he was waiting for one of them to make their move. Topher then sighed and said,

"Someone give me a tongue twister."

"She sells seashells by the seashore." Kanari offered, lying on Renge's bed as she watched this little dispute with the rest of the girls. Topher repeated the line and transformed into his human self, glowering down and smirking at Xan.

"Yeah you're right." Topher admitted as he ran a hand through his light green hair," You're still a little kid."

Topher then rested his hand on Xan's head as Xan tried punching him as he shouted," Say that again! I dare you!"

"I wonder..." Renny said quietly to himself, not receiving any attention from anyone except Chiyo as he said this. Slowly, he crept up up behind Xan who was still squabbling with Topher and scared him by shouting "Boo!"

Xan yelped and reverted back into his bird form and fell face first onto Renge's carpet.

"What did you that for?" A teary-eyed Xan cried as he looked over to his eldest brother.

"To prove whether or not my theory was correct. And I've just proved myself right; You haven't mastered that skill as of yet." Renny declared neutrally.

Xan looked down to the carpet shamefully, not saying a word in regret of his actions.

"It's ok if you haven't got it down fully as of yet. I don't think Topher and I got that far as to stay in that form for over a few minutes at your age." Renny reminisced.

"I think my record at your age was about twelve seconds." Topher admitted sheepishly," Headmistress would've been proud to see you hold that form for so long at your age."

"That reminds me! The Headmistress gave me an important task for you guys to complete!" Xan declared as he conjured up a small scroll of paper before the group.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Renny questioned Xan warily as the girls looked at the page.

"Headmistress showed me how to do it." Xan said to him.

"Dear Renny and Topher, I'm happy to tell you that I managed to have Xander transported to your current residence so the two of you can keep watch over him. But, I need you two and the Pretty Cure to help me transport the rest of the citizens from Univer that I've transferred today into their temporary homes in your town. I had someone doing it for a while but they're unable to help me right now as they're already helping some other citizens who have been transported to England this week find their temporary homes. Thankfully for you guys, a smaller volume of citizens have been sent to your town, so if you could help them all find their homes, it would be great. Also, if you're unsure of whether of not someone's from Univer, just look for a pin of a globe in black and gold. As it was our insignia in ancient times. Good luck, Headmistress." Renge read aloud.

"So, does she mean all over town?" Kanari asked as she stretched out her arms.

"I'm assuming so." Renny said as he looked over the letter," But, if there's one thing for certain...it's that you're not coming."

Renny was pointing to Xan, who frowned as he heard this and tried to plead his case saying," But why not? I can help find everyone! I know what they all look like!"

"That may be true but, you might do more harm than good if we bring you along." Topher stated," Plus, it might not be safe out there."

"Are you kidding me?" Xan said in disgust," I've been through a whole lot worse within the last couple of months and now after escaping, you're telling me I can't even help you?"

"Well...maybe not with this." Renny declared," Maybe you could go to the library and look for the Book of Omnipotence."

"I'll do it!" Xan declared excitedly without hesitation as he transformed back into his human self, thinking that searching as a human would be easier than searching as a fairy.

"But, someone's going to have to go with him..." Topher declared.

Strangely enough, all eyes turned to Chiyo and no one could explain why. Chiyo flinched after realizing that literally everyone in the room was looking at her and she sighed, wishing she had a say in this, instead of being silently appointed by everyone else.

"But, we're going to need a third member..." Xan declared as he rubbed his chin.

Yugure was about to volunteer, but Renny stopped her from doing so by saying," We're going to need all the help we can get today while taking the citizens to their temporary homes. Letting one of you stay with Xander is more than enough."

"But we need three! One to be the brains, the other to be the brawn, and the final one to be the leader!" Xan proclaimed as he held three fingers up in Renny's face.

"What about Hikaru?" Yugure suggested to Renge.

"Good idea. Hikaru!" Renge shouted as she opened her bedroom door. Hikaru came jogging in and looked as if he was in a hurry as he waited impatiently for Renge to state why she called him in.

"This is Xan, Topher's little brother. He's in town this week and he wants to go explore the library. Would you like to go with him and Chiyo?" Renge asked she placed her hands on Xan's shoulders, with Xan giving him a friendly wave.

"Toriumi's little brother?" Hikaru sputtered as he looked down to Xan in what seemed to be wonder.

"What's gotten into him?" Kanari muttered into Renge's ear.

"Ever since that one time a few months back, Hikaru kinda idolizes Topher, despite only meeting him once..." Renge answered sheepishly.

"I'd love to. But I can't. I've got a group project to work on with a few friends from class, sorry." Hikaru said as he left Renge's room.

"Great. Now who's going to be the third member of their unit?" Renge sighed once Hikaru was out of earshot.

"Ando? You're not doing anything at home today right? Ok. Come over to Renge's, you're going on a...treasure hunt." Kanari said into her phone before she hung up,"...You got your third member."

"Thanks." Renge said to Kanari as she flashed her a thumbs-up," Now, where should we start looking?"

Renge, Kanari and Yugure, along with the two birds walked down the streets of downtown first to look for citizens from Univer. The streets were crowded with people today and the warm breeze that signified that beginning of spring felt great after months of frigid climate.

"She said to look for a black and gold globe pin." Renge reminded the girls," But first, do you two recognize anyone here?"

Renny and Topher, who were both sitting on Renge and Kanari's shoulders respectively for a change, looked around but didn't seem to find anyone they recognized.

"It's not as easy as you think to look for someone from Univer like this, considering there could dozens of people here that are from Univer that haven't met. Plus, we haven't been there in months." Renny pointed out.

"You're right." Renge declared," Let's just continue searching for anyone wearing the pins and if you guys see a familiar face, you can just tell us alright?"

The girls began looking at everyone's coats, first in a casual manner and soon enough, by blatantly staring at everyone they crossed paths with. Renge was the most obvious as she was literally glaring at everyone's coats in suspicion. Some people seemed to be a little uncomfortable with Renge's glaring and eventually, Kanari tapped Renge on the shoulder, hinting at her to ease up a bit.

"Strange, we haven't found anyone yet." Renge remarked as they sat at a bench next to the bus-stop.

"Maybe we should start looking somewhere." Yugure suggested with a sigh. Just then, they could hear the voice of a what sounded like a boy in his twenties asking for directions from someone.

"Excuse me sir, I hope I'm not bothering you, but would you happen to know how I could get to this location?" The boy asked a older looking man. The boy, who had very pale skin and dark hair looked at the man hopefully as he held out a sheet of paper to him with an address on it.

"Hm, The Takahashi Hotel? Well, I believe you have to take a southbound 36, get off around Kitagiri and take a twenty from there and get off at the last stop, ok?" The man answered him.

"Um, I'm sorry take a 36?" The boy repeated, sounding quite lost. But, the man was already out of sight for him to ask any further questions. The boy sighed and the group looked for a black and gold pin on him. He was indeed wearing one on his dark green jacket. The group then rushed over to him and the boy looked at them nervously, unsure of what to do.

"C-can I help you?" The boy asked timidly as he took a step back.

"Actually, we're here to help you." Kanari declared," You're from Univer City aren't you?"

The boy looked both ways to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation. No one appeared to be listening and so he whispered,

"Yes I am. But how do you know about-"

"We're the Pretty Cure and Headmistress told us that a bunch of you guys were being sent out from Univer Kingdom today and needed our help to get your temporary homes." Renge explained.

"Wait a minute...Chandler?" Topher said as he looked closely at the boy.

"Topher? I didn't see you there! Wait, are you the ones helping the Pretty Cure? By the way, thank you so much for all you've done." Chandler praised.

"No problem!" The girls said in unison with Yugure asking shortly after," Anyways, where are you headed?"

Chandler held out the piece of paper to the girls for them to read it.

"The man over said something about taking a thirty-six, but I have no clue what means..." Chandler confessed sheepishly as the group read the piece of paper.

"That's a bus." Renge answered," It's route will take you to one point where you are going to have to switch buses and take another bus, a twenty, to get you to your destination."

"But, doesn't the twenty have two different routes?" Kanari reminded Renge," What if he takes the wrong one?"

The group then turned their gaze over to Chandler to offered them an awkward smile.

"It'd probably be better if we went along with him." Renge declared," Or, just one of us go with him while we look for the other citizens. So, who wants to go?"

Yugure raised her hand and Renge allowed her to leave with Chandler before she said," If you need help with directions, don't hesitate to call me or Kanari!"

Yugure nodded and the rest of the group left them in search of the other citizens.

"Is that the thirty-six they were talking about?" Chandler asked as he pointed to a bus that was coming close to the bus stop. Yugure lifted her head up and saw the bus with labeled as a thirty six come near to them. Yugure nodded and took out some tickets from her purse for bus fare.

"Ando, have you found anything yet?" Xan asked loudly as he stood on a step-ladder, only to be shushed by the librarians and many others reading in the library.

Ando shook his head as he put a book back into it's spot," Nothing. How big is this book again?"

"It's bigger than any other normal book and it'll probably be the largest book you come across!" Xan yell-whispered, punctuating his statement by holding his arms out to show how big the book would be, only to lose his balance and fall off the step ladder.

"Ow..." Xan said as he rubbed his head, before turning his attention to Chiyo, who had been working away on a computer beside them," Chiyo, when are you going to start helping us?"

"Just give me a minute to save this and I'll show you a good place to look." Chiyo declared as she pressed save on the file before her and ejected her memory stick out from the computer. Chiyo then motioned the boys to follow her and she led them to the other end of the library. Xan and Ando had originally been searching in the children's book section, seeing nothing out of place except for some large catalogues. Chiyo took them to the reference section of the library, where encyclopedias, cooking books and many others could be found. The section had very few people and many, many large books. Xan and Ando looked excited as they ran over to the shelf nearest to them, ripping through cook books in search of the book of Omnipotence.

"Wow, Chiyo, how did you know a place like this was here in the library?" Xan asked as Chiyo smiled at him humbly.

"Sometimes I need to look inside books for information for some school projects and I've been to this library a couple of times already." Chiyo explained," You already knew that libraries have sections like this, didn't you?"

Ando took a momentary break from searching as he watched Xan try to come up with a response," Not really, I don't really go to libraries all that much actually. My brothers may be super brainy and obsessed with libraries, but I'm not anything like them to be honest. I'm more sporty if anything."

"Nothing wrong with that." Chiyo stated as Ando began searching through the books again.  
"Try telling my parents that." Xan said as he began looking through the books, a small frown appearing on his face for no longer than a few moments.

"If we don't see the book in here, do you want try that book-store up ahead?" Ando asked as he pulled out a large book from the shelf, falling over in the process.

"Definitely!" Xan exclaimed, getting hushed again as he did so.

The two boys looked around the reference section for a few more minutes, dragging out as many books as they could without being pulled down by the books themselves. Chiyo could tell that Ando was getting bored quickly in what was likely the most boring section of the library, but Xan seemed determined to be as much help to his brothers' as possible as he meticulously checked the title of each book he came across. The search here seemed to be going nowhere, and so Chiyo decided to join in and skim through a few titles with them. All the titles seemed ordinary, much to Xan's discontent. But, he worked as hard as ever to try and find the book, even though it may've been hopeless searching here.

Xan then tried picking out a shiny looking book that caught his eye on a shelf a little above his head. It was the on the highest shelf of the bookshelf and Xan looked at it glint in the light, thinking he just found the book. It may've been a little too high up for him but he didn't really care. Xan held out his hand high and was on his tip-toes, trying to grab the book from the top shelf. He did manage to take it out, but it slipped out from his hands and before he could try and catch it, he flinched, only to see that Chiyo caught it for him.

"A history of gemstones and minerals." Chiyo read aloud," Do you want to check the bookstore down the road now?"

"But...we haven't checked all the books here yet." Xan reminded her.

"For all we know, it might be in that bookstore rather than here." Chiyo pointed out as she motioned him to the exit," Ando, we're going!"

Ando hopped off the step-ladder he was using to search through the fifth level of the book-shelf and followed them out.

The three of them exited the library and went into the bookstore down the road. It was a small little store called, Shu's Books and More. It did seem small on the outside at least, but once the three of them were inside, their entrance punctuated by the bells ringing by the door, they were amazed to find how large the store really was.

"Looks really aren't everything." Chiyo remarked as Xan and Ando ran deep into the store. Chiyo followed behind them slowly, taking in her surroundings as she looked around the store. This may've been one of the largest book stores she had ever been inside. There were quite a few people here, but what was really grabbing Chiyo's attention was every shelf and stack of books around her. It felt like a library with it being so quiet in here coupled with the huge amount of books in here.

As Chiyo walked deeper into the bookstore slowly, she jumped as she heard someone say to her," Are you looking for something in particular?"

Chiyo spun around and saw Shinko standing behind the register with a cup of bubble tea in front of her. Shinko smiled to her and Chiyo took a few moments to recognize her as she stared at her curiously.

"You're Renge's friend...Shinko right?" Chiyo asked her cautiously.

"Yup! And, you're Sakurami right?" Shinko asked before taking a sip from her bubble tea.

"Yeah, do you work here?" Chiyo inquired.

"No, my cousin's the manager and he lets me hang out here sometimes." Shinko explained as she noticed Chiyo beginning to look around the library again," It's amazing isn't it? Never seen anything like it, right?"

"It's...breath-taking." Chiyo exhaled as she looked around the store," I never knew such a store like this even _existed_ in town."

"Well, that's my family for you. Book-lovers from the beginning to the end. So, were you looking for anything in particular? Or just browsing?" Shinko asked again.

"Uh, we were just looking." Chiyo disclosed as she started looking for the boys from where she was standing.

"Just let me know if you need any help." Shinko beamed before Chiyo walked over to the boys, who were currently reading a picture book at a table.

"I thought you guys were looking for the book." Chiyo reminded them.

"Not yet! Xan's showing me his hometown!" Ando declared as he waved a hand of dismissal to Chiyo, his eyes still on the picture book.

"And this is the University. My brothers had been going there. My oldest brother Renny is in his second year and my brother Topher is a first year. Oh, and that's the Headmistress telling a story in the Scholarly Square! She used to do that a lot." Xan explained as he pointed to the Headmistress sitting beside the fountain with a crowd in front of her.

"Oh! And that's the old Headmaster's wife Miss Ayuki!" Xan exclaimed as he pointed to a woman with very pale skin and navy blue hair with what appeared to be a flower shaped bun on the side of her head. She wore a grey kimono-styled dress that went to her knees with a flower pattern on it with teal trimming. Her eyes were heavy-lidded and lilac and her smile was small, as was the rest the of her.

"That's the Headmistress' step-mom. She's really smart, but she always seems a little sleepy. Oh, and that's the Headmistress' step-brother!" Xan explained as he pointed to a boy standing beside her. He was tall and his hair was dark like his mothers, but his eyes seemed to hold a despondent look to them.

"Where did you guys find this book?" Chiyo asked them uneasily as she looked through the book with them.

"It was just on the table here." Ando stated as Chiyo looked at the book in suspicion.

"How did a book like this get here?" Chiyo wonder aloud quietly as she felt the glossy pages of the book.

Yugure and Chandler were getting closer and closer to the Takahashi hotel on the bus. Yugure could didn't even have to look at Chandler to know how excited he was; he was literally bouncing up and down beside her.

"This is all so exhilarating." Chandler declared as he rubbed sweat off of his forehead," I wonder if I'll be able to make friends with someone at the hotel. Or better yet, I meet someone from Univer! Wouldn't that be terrific Yugure?"

Yugure, who was gazing out the window, seemed rather alert after hearing her name as she said,"Chances of that seem pretty slim, but, stranger things have happened."

Chandler nodded in agreement and Yugure returned to gazing out the bus window. Clouds were beginning to cast over the sky slowly but surely. Maybe they would send rain down with them in a few hours. Yugure stared towards the clouds that had begun to obscure the sun as she thought about last night. She was in truth thankful that she was the one who got to take Chandler to his temporary home so that she could finally invest some time into trying to figure out how to tell her parents about her acceptance into Yozora University. She should've done this immediately when she got the letter, she knew this all too well by this point. But, she was too scared back then, too scared to tell her parents; Hell, the thought of trying to decide on how to tell them would send shivers crawling down her spine back then. Time was running out and Minato was right, the longer she took to tell her parents, the more

it would hurt them. And what was she supposed to say if she got asked why she took so long to tell them? That she was scared that they'd disapprove and deny her wishes to go study at Yozora? Maybe, if worded right, she could draw out some sympathy from them. Yugure then frowned, knowing that it would've been wrong of her to try and manipulate her parents' feelings.

 _"Minato's lucky."_ Yugure thought to herself _," He never had this issue."_

"Yugure, is that the place?" Chandler asked as he tugged on Yugure's arm, pointing to a large grey hotel coming into view with the name Takahashi on it.

"Yeah, press the button." Yugure instructed as she stood up, pointing to the button on the pole. Chandler did as told and the two got off of the bus once they reached the next bus stop. They walked over to the hotel and Chandler seemed even more excited as they were only a few feet away from it now. Yugure began to wonder if she would have to stop him from suddenly running towards the hotel. Soon, they reached the front of the hotel and Yugure bade him farewell for now.

"Maybe I should give you our numbers in case something happens..." Yugure suggested as she began to write her number, along with Renge's, Kanari's and Chiyo's on a crumpled up sheet of paper.

"Thank you Yugure. If anything happens, I'll call immediately." Chandler affirmed before turning towards the doors of the hotel," My new chapter starts here!"

He waved goodbye to Yugure before entering the hotel and Yugure waved back to him.

Yugure then thought about what he said before he left her and started saying it under her breath a few times. She then looked up to the sky, where a few less clouds resided for the moment and said to herself,

"What a nice saying. Maybe I should say that to mom and dad when I'm going to plead my case."

Just then, Yugure's phone began ringing from inside her pocket and she picked it up a few moments later saying," Hello?"

It was Yugure's mom on the other end of the phone,"Yugure, I need you to come home. Now."

"Yeah, sure." Yugure sputtered out before she hung up. That tone her mom used, that wasn't her typical warm and friendly one. This one instilled fear within Yugure and made her try and think of what it was that made her mom use this tone today.

"No, she couldn't have..." Yugure said to herself as she looked at her phone anxiously, before remembering what she let sit on her nightstand last night,"...She found it."

Yugure felt her stomach tie up into knots when she took the bus home and found herself staring at her front door, still contemplating on how she should tell her parents this. She tried to think of something on the bus, some way for her parents to understand why she hid this from them but...the words wouldn't come. And if they wouldn't come then, then how were they supposed to come now when she was too much of a mess to organize her thoughts?

After taking a deep breath, she opened the door to her house and found her mom, dad and Minato all in the living room, with her mom standing up, acceptance letter in hand.

"Hey guys..." Yugure began shakily as she closed the front door behind her,"...I see you've found my letter."

Yugure's mother then opened up the folded letter and began to read it aloud," Congratulations Yugure, we are please to inform you that you have been given an offer of admission for the program listed below, that program being Astronomical Sciences."

Yugure kept her head down as her mother read this and her father then asked her," How long have you had this letter?"

"A couple of weeks now." Yugure answered, keeping her gaze to the carpet.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Yugure's mother asked her tonelessly. So many answers came to Yugure, all of them being rather brutally honest ones. She looked over to her dad and then Minato and finally said,

"Because if I told you, you wouldn't have let me do it! And how was I supposed to tell my two biochemist parents that I didn't want to be like them anymore and do what I've been wanting to do since I was little?"

Yugure then rushed up to her bedroom and slammed the door behind her. She was feeling way too many things at once and had to sit down on her bed to try and gain composure. She took short breaths and felt heart rattling in her chest. Yugure stared at her bedroom door and told herself not to think too hard right now, otherwise she may've gotten a migraine of some sorts. It was hard telling herself not to get stressed out when the only thing she could feel was stress getting to her in every way possible. She could hear her parents and Minato talking downstairs and slowly, she crept over to her door and pressed her ear against it, trying to listen in on them.

"If Astronomy makes her happy, wouldn't it be better for her to study and try to pursue a career in that instead of Biochemistry, something she really can't stand?" Minato reasoned.

"Why did I just storm out like that?" Yugure asked herself as she put her back against the door," Why wasn't I just honest in the first place?"

Yugure rested her head on her folded arms and just then, she heard a familiar voice from outside her bedroom window. She dashed towards her window and found Fumiko, Minato's girlfriend standing outside looking for someone.

"Ichigo! Ichigo!" Fumiko cried," Where could that cat have gone to?"

She then took her phone out, checking to see if she had received any new text messages within the last hour. She sighed upon seeing that there was nothing there for her.

"Minato said he was going to hang out with me today and I haven't gotten a response back to confirm that we're still on for today..." Fumiko muttered to herself as she pursed her lips.

"She has easier than me and Minato combined." Yugure mused as she watched Fumiko dial a number on her phone furiously. Yugure then saw Vice standing behind a lamp post with one of those crumpled spheres in hand. Her breath caught once she saw Vice and ran out of her room in an instant.

At this point, it seemed like Minato was pretty much getting lectured by Yugure's parents as they continued to talk about Yugure with him.

"If she told us in the first place we would've at least tried to..." Shiho began, before noticing that Minato wasn't paying attention to her,"...Are you listening?"

Minato, who was drawing a little humanoid figure on a piece of scrap paper at the kitchen counter, looked over to Shiho and said," Of course! You were saying-"

A loud, shrill scream could be heard from outside and Yugure could be seen bolting out of her house seconds after, with her pen in hand.

"Yu-yugure! Where are you going?" Shiho shouted as Yugure raced out of the house.

Yugure ran onto the street and saw a Delinquous made from a lamp post standing beside Vice while Fumiko laid lifelessly on the pavement.

"You're going to regret this." Yugure said to Vice as she held her pen out in front of herself," Pretty Cure, study session!"

"The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!"

Science looked up to the Delinquous who had just leapt up high into the air, saying to herself," I've got to wrap this up quickly and I need to get it away from the main road."

Yugure's parents were still voicing their opinions to Minato, who really was no longer listening at this point, his eyes set on Cure Science in bewilderment.

"That couldn't be Yugure...could it?" Minato said quietly to an indigo creature with gold eyes sitting on his shoulder.

"They have the same voice." The creature, Minato's Inner Scholar, pointed out.

"They do don't they, Crescens?" Minato said to Crescens before seeing Fumiko unconscious on the roadside. His eyes widened at the sight and he zipped out of the house to her side.

Science led the Delinquous into a field far from the main road and heaved in each breath as she stared down the Delinquous. She then summoned her scepter moments later before the Delinquous tried swinging at her. She leapt up and aimed her scepter in front of the Delinquous and shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Nebula Flash!"

The Delinquous staggered backwards as the little mass of planets and stars exploded in front of it. She landed on her feet and just then, the Delinquous stood back up and swung itself around, catching Science off guard and pelting her towards the other end of the field.

She screamed and fell on her side, her legs shaking uncontrollably as she tried to stand up. She took in deep breaths as she tried standing back up while looking over to the Delinquous. Science then stared at the ground for a few moments, trying to figure out why seemed stronger than the last one. At first, she thought these instances were all just figments of her imagination but...she could tell the other girls were beginning to catch on.

She didn't have anymore time to think about this unfortunately as the Delinquous started to charge towards her. She leapt up again and tried to decide what her next move should be. Science then landed in front of the Delinquous and impulsively she shouted," Shape shift! Wondrous Caduceus!"

She then swung around the Caduceus and shouted," Pretty Cure, Galactic mirage!" sending a large splash of water towards the Delinquous. It didn't do much as the Delinquous was still marching towards her. She took a few steps back cautiously and looked up to the Delinquous wide-eyed as she gripped her Caduceus tightly.

The Delinquous lunged for her but it was kicked in it's side and was sent flying into the field. Science looked at the Delinquous in astonishment and looked over to the opposite side where Literature and Arithmetic, along with the three birds, stood while History had began to spar with the Delinquous.

"Guys, how did you know I was here?" Science asked in surprise while History continued to fight against the Delinquous.

"Chandler tried calling you and didn't get a response so he called us." Literature explained," We figured you may've went home for something."

"Why didn't you call us?" History asked as she came near to Science, still fighting against the Delinquous.

"I...I thought I'd be able to just finish it off quickly." Science answered, that response leaving a bad taste in her mouth as she knew that sounded so unlike her,"...I guess I wasn't thinking straight. Sorry."

"It's alright," Arithmetic reassured as she conjured up her scepter and turned into it's sword form," Just remember, you're not alone ok?"

Science stood there, unsure of just what to say and nodded her head as she began to fight with the rest of her team.

Literature conjured up her scepter and twirled it around as she shouted," Pretty Cure, enchantress whirlwind!"

The mini-typhoon whisked the Delinquous up into the air, where Cure History and Arithmetic were awaiting it. The Delinquous attempted to swing at them but had little success in doing so, with History taking a leap backwards and pointing her scepter, now transformed into the staff saying,

"Pretty Cure! Storming Legend!"

Lightning struck the Delinquous and the two Cures in mid-air kicked the Delinquous down into the ground, with Arithmetic darting up before it.

"Pretty Cure, Conversion Blizzard!" Arithmetic shouted as she pointed her scepter right before the Delinquous who jumped away in an instant and ended up using her attack on History.

"Sorry!" Arithmetic shouted to History, who was now shivering after being hit with the freezing cold attack.

"Weak team! Weak team!" The Delinquous jeered as it smacked Literature into Science.

"Who are you calling weak?" Literature yelled as she shot an arrow through the Delinquous.

Vice then appeared beside the Delinquous, gesturing it to stop fighting with the girls for a moment as he said," It takes all four of you to work together to have your team work efficiently. However, it only takes one person to screw it up for everyone."

Science then looked down to her feet, feeling as if those words were being directed at her.

"That might be true..." History began as Vice let the Delinquous continue to fight again,"...But, being able to work together isn't the only thing that makes a team! It's being able to help a fallen member of our team stand up again, no matter how far they've fallen."

"Right?" History said as she turned to face Science. Science nodded her head vigorously and she held out her scepter in determination as she shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Nebula flash!"

"Pretty Cure, Archaic tremor!"

The two attacks hit the Delinquous head on and it wobbled on it's feet as it lost balance. It nearly fell and just before it did, Literature and Arithmetic deliver the finishing blow.

"Pretty Cure, Typhoon of Passion!" Literature yelled as she struck another arrow into the Delinquous.

"Pretty Cure, Imperial Dendrite!" Arithmetic shouted, her attack making Literature's typhoon turn into a mini blizzard.

The Delinquous laid there, defeated and Science shouted," Now's our chance!"

"Abracadabra!" Science cried, releasing Nikki out from herself, who conjured up a silver key for her to put inside her scepter.

"Open Sesame!" History shouted, releasing Juli out and receiving a key from Juli after he had appeared.

"With ardency!" Literature shouted as she held her scepter up high.

"With precision!" Arithmetic shouted, following suit.

"With justice!" History shouted.

"With wonder!" Science shouted.

The Cures and the Delinquous were then surrounding by a pale white light that was blinding to everyone outside it.

"Pretty Cure, Scholastic examination!" The Cures cried out in unison.

"A-plus!" The Cures exclaimed together, each of them giving a wink as they did so as the Delinquous was cleansed. Vice had vanished and Yugure decided that now was the time to tell the girls about her biggest issue as of lately.

"So, I got into Yozora University to study Astronomical Sciences." Yugure began shakily as she kept her gaze to the ground,"But, I didn't tell my parents about it because I knew they would disapprove. And today they found out and...I'm worried that they hate me now."

"Yugure, I may not know your parents that well, but this should go everyone when I say no one would hate you for trying to follow your dreams." Renge stated.

Yugure then said,"But for years, they've-"

"-Um, I'm sorry to interrupt but, I've been having a problem quite similar to yours for a while now." Xan interjected," My parents want me to be all studious like Renny and Topher and try to become a doctor or something, but...well, I don't know what I want to be yet but, I know it's probably going to be something related to sports. I haven't told them yet because I'm not sure on what I want to do but...maybe together, we can both try and show our parents that is our path. The path that we've chosen, not the one that they've decided on for us."

Yugure smiled at Xan and said," Sounds like a plan."

That night, Yugure stood in front of her mom and dad in the living room feeling mildly anxious as she looked at them and said," I'm sorry for not telling you about applying to Yozora and I'm sorry for storming out like that. It wasn't right of me to worry you two like that. If you have any questions for me, I'll be happy to answer them right now."

"I just want to know, why didn't you think you weren't able to tell us about applying to Yozora in the first place?" Shiho asked.

Yugure looked at her mom dumb-founded and unable to come up with an adequate answer in time saying," Because, you've always been telling me that I'm going to be a Biochemist like you guys."

"Yugure, think back, that may've been something we've been telling you since you were young but there was another thing that we always told you even more than that." Shiho stated, though Yugure didn't seem to be following her," It was to be honest. While we may've not been so open to the idea of you going into Astronomy, we would've rather that than have you lie to us. We didn't raise you to be dishonest."

"...You're right mom, and I'm going to be as honest as I can with you two right now." Yugure began as she took a deep breath," Chemistry has been killing me for the last few months and it made the entire month of December hell for me. Remember that full bottle of Advil we once had and how it was magically finished within that month? All me. And that application to Kobayashi? I've actually yet to hear a response from them. But, you know what? I'm fine with it, since I have my heart set on my own path, the path to Astronomy that doubles as my own path to happiness."

 _"Alright, you can take Astronomical Sciences at Yozora." Shiho declared," But, just because it isn't as hard as Chemistry doesn't mean it'll be easy of course. You will undoubtedly meet a bunch of hardships in your studies at University. Just promise me you won't give up, alright?"_

 _"Of course!" Yugure beamed with a giant smile on her face._

Yugure sat on her bed, looking over some notes she had from her Astronomy unit in Science class from a few months ago. She decided it would've been best to try and quiz herself regularly now that she was for sure going to Yozora with her parents' approval to keep all this information fresh in her mind. She had a small folder on help as well as a set of flash cards tucked into it. She was also wearing those houndstooth glasses she would wear as Saiko Lumi Xenon, not because she needed them, but rather, wearing them would help her concentrate.

"Hey," Yugure heard a voice greet from behind her, startling her greatly. She jumped and scrambled to the opposite side of her bed, sitting on the very edge of it now. She saw Rishi sitting on her window sill yet again.

"Rishi, hey..." Yugure said nervously as she held her binder in front of herself tightly.

"Since when do you wear glasses?" He asked her curiously.

"Oh, these? They're just for show." Yugure stated," _My parents could come inside at any given moment, how am I suppose to explain him if they come in?"_

"You know, now is really not a good time for you for to be here right now..." Yugure said as she inched backwards and fell off of the bed. She yelped a tiny yelp and Rishi then entered the room, helping her to her feet.

"Yugure, what was that?" Her dad asked from downstairs.

"Nothing!" Yugure shouted back.

"Oh, your parents are home..." Rishi observed before noticing a heap of cards around Yugure," What are these?"

Yugure's eyes widened as she tried to form a response and finally sighed saying," They're flash cards. I use them to study, I'm pretty much no good without them. Yeah, seems weird doesn't it? A magical girl with academic powers and stuff needs flash cards to study, it's shocking I know."

"I don't see a problem with them." Rishi stated neutrally as he helped her gather up the cards, surprising Yugure greatly," It shows that you're trying."

Yugure thought about what he just said and smiled to herself thinking," _I'm rubbing off on him, aren't I?"_

"What is it?" Rishi questioned as he noticed the smile on Yugure's face, that smile of hers making him want to do the same.

"Nothing it's just...I can't wait for the day when I'm able to tell my parents about you, as well as my friends when this Pretty Cure and Temptation thing all blows over. I can't wait for this to no longer be a secret." Yugure answered," You think that day will ever come?"

"I wouldn't think it would if I wasn't with you." He answered with a smile.


	31. Study buddies

In the Ikeda house-hold, one could hear a argument between the young middle-schooler Ami and her mother. Ami's mother looked extremely unimpressed as she held a progress report sheet that belonged to Ami in her hands while Ami pretended that the progress report wasn't even there, as well as her mother. Ami sat at the kitchen counter while her restless mother held the progress report in front of her.

"How come it took you a whole two weeks to show me this?" Ami mother's asked furiously," I shouldn't even be asking that; considering you didn't show it to me, I found at the bottom of your back-pack along with the report card that you were supposed to show me two months ago."

Ami said nothing and stared into her bowl of cereal. She quickly glanced over at Kazuya, who remained silent like her but for his own reason, that reason being he had and wanted absolutely no part in this.

"That's it Ami, you're getting a tutor." Ami's mother declared adamantly.

"But I don't need a tutor!" Ami claimed in her defense," And even if I did, don't you think it'd be easier to have Kazuya tutor me than find some random people to help me?"

Ami's mother looked at Ami in question and responded," Kazuya can't tutor you! He's too busy with his extracurriculars and his own homework. But, with that being said..."

Ami's mother looked over to Kazuya, the last thing Kazuya wanted and asked him," Do you know of anyone who could tutor Ami?"

Kazuya's eyes widened, as he didn't exactly expect his mom to ask that. He then tried thinking of somebody who could be of help to his sister. There were quite a few people he could easily name off the top of his head, most of them being his friends but, his friends had already had their share of first-hand experiences with his sister, so that meant they already knew what they were in for. Aside from his friends, he couldn't really name anyone else. But then, someone came came to him, and thankfully, this person didn't seem to dislike Ami all that much, not to mention they were pretty smart.

"Well?" Ami's mother asked impatiently.

Kazuya then looked at his mother with a reassuring look in his blue-green eyes,"I've got somebody, I'll just ask them before class today."

"You want me to tutor your sister?" Chiyo asked Kazuya with some uncertainty in her voice. Kazuya nodded quickly.

"Why can't you do it?" Chiyo questioned with her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Kazuya sighed, knowing it wouldn't likely get any easier convincing Chiyo from here," I've got Drama club, Band club and I'm on a soccer team outside of school. So I'm way too busy to help. It doesn't even have to be just you tutoring her, you can bring some friends over and you all can help. She needs all the help she can get anyways."

"I thought Ami didn't like me." Chiyo stated.

"Eh, she's kinda indifferent towards you." Kazuya replied with a shrug," Please Chiyo, If I can't find my sister a tutor, my mom's going to make her stay after class with her teachers every day for extra help and that's the last thing she wants."

Chiyo then took a deep sigh and said," Fine. I'll do it."

Kazuya looked ecstatic upon hearing that as he pumped a fist into the air,"Thanks so much Chiyo! So, do you think you can come over tomorrow?"

Chiyo checked over her schedule mentally before she gave Kazuya a response. She remembered that tomorrow would Saturday, the twenty-sixth and looked at Kazuya with an apologetic look on her face.

"I won't be able to come until noon, I've got pick my mom up from the airport, is that alright?" Chiyo asked him.

"Of course! No one in my house, except for me is ever up before eleven on weekends." Kazuya said sheepishly," But I've got soccer practice at eight so I won't be home until one. So I guess Ami will let you in. Thanks again for doing this."

Chiyo smiled kindly to him, responding,"It's no big deal."

After morning classes that day, Chiyo had plans to go to the mall next door with some of her friends. On her way to the mall, as she was walking near the entrance of the school, she bumped into a certain someone she hadn't talk to in almost a year.

"Sorry about that Maizawa." Chiyo said as she helped Miki pick up some items that had fallen from her hands.

"It's ok. But wow, Chiyo I haven't heard from you in a while!" Miki remarked as the two of them began to walk out," You got a job at Super Smoothies in the mall right? I see you there all the time after school."

"Yeah, I've been working there since last July." Chiyo explained," So, how has student council been?"

"It's been hectic this week, especially amongst the second-years since elections are coming up in the next couple of weeks." Miki explained," It's really a shame you can't run for president since you weren't in student council this year. I always thought you'd make a really good president."

Chiyo shrugged and noticed a list in Miki's hands that seemed to be compiled of food," Last-minute fundraising bake-sale?"

"You know it." Miki giggled as she looked down to the list," So last minute that I have to pay out of my own pocket this time. At least this wasn't as last minute as the pot-luck my dance club held last week. Well, I need to meet with Akemi to make sure of what we still need to buy, I'll talk to you later ok?"

Chiyo waved bye to Miki and went off deeper into the mall to look for her friends.

The next day, Chiyo stood at the airport with Renge, Kanari and Yugure as they all awaited for Chiyo's mom's flight to land. Chiyo fidgeted with the button on her pale yellow blazer that was coming loose, twisting it around as she narrowed her eyes at it. The days were getting woefully warmer as well as longer. Normally, the thought of warmer weather arriving brought Chiyo at ease but this year, she didn't feel very welcoming towards the thought. Warmer weather called for the school year coming to an end, meaning in a short amount of time, she'd become a third-year. And for the rest of her friends...

Chiyo looked over to Renge, Kanari and Yugure who looked towards the airport gate excitedly. It was odd for them to seem so excited, considering it was _her_ mom showing up. But, as of lately, they had been seeming a tad gloomy lately, so maybe they were being excited for Chiyo to distract themselves from their own problems.

"So, what's your mom coming in town for?" Yugure asked Chiyo casually as she noticed Chiyo grow mildly impatient waiting here.

"There's this model here who's going to have her North American debut in the Showcase Fashion show next week and mom wants to meet her." Chiyo explained indifferently," She also said that she insisted the the model, who's from Kyoto, come meet her here as she was planning to come in town this week anyways to see the family."

"How nice." Yugure commented as a plane was landing.

"Is that your mom's flight?" Kanari asked as she stood on her tip-toes to look out the far window.

"Her flight isn't going to be here for another forty minutes." Chiyo stated as she looked out the window with Kanari," It might be early but...I doubt it's her flight."

After a few minutes, after the passengers were allowed to exit the plane and go to the luggage carousel, the girls looked around for Chiyo's mom. They didn't see her, but Renge and Kanari found someone else they recognized.

"Hey, I saw that guy at Pizza Perfection!" Renge said as she tugged on Kanari's jacket, pointing to the dark-skinned man going down the escalator.

"I know him too! He's friends with Natsuhi!" Kanari stated, a little louder than intended," What was his name, um...like Ta...Ta..."

"Tamotsu!" Renge and Kanari both shouted in unison, getting Tamotsu's attention as they said this.

"Shoot! Now look what we've done." Renge said as she tried hiding her face with her hands. As Tamotsu got off the escalator, he walked over to the two of them with a large smile on his face.

"Hey, I know you two! Nice to see you again." Tamotsu greeted.

"You too," Renge said in a mildly timid voice," So, where are you coming back from?"

"Europe. A friend of mine needed some help so I was there for about a week or so." Tamotsu explained," But it's feels great to be back home."

As Renge and Kanari continued to talk with Tamotsu for a little longer, Chiyo saw her mother stepping onto the escalator and looking around for Chiyo. Chiyo waved her arm around in hopes of getting her mom's attention and thankfully, Yoshino spotted her quickly.

"Chiyo~" Yoshino cried as she ran up to Chiyo, her high heels clacking away against the floor as she sped towards her daughter. She hugged her and Chiyo awkwardly hugged her back.

"So, how have you been?" Yoshino asked her, before she looked at Chiyo's blazer," That is such a lovely colour on you! It really brings out the vibrant highlights of your eyes."

"Hey, I know you." A stranger said to Yoshino asked she walked by to the group, the stranger being unrecognizable to the group," You're Sakurami Yoshino. You're that famous fashion designer. So, what is it that brings you here?"

"I'm meeting with a rising model this weekend but I'm primarily here to spend time with my family." Yoshino explained as she smiled to Chiyo.

"Hey, I read in some article in a magazine that you said you have this muse thing or whatever you called it that you drives you to create your designs, is it like a secret consultant?" The woman asked.

"Nope, no secret consultant." Yoshino declared, "But that's all I can say."

The woman walked off to get her luggage from the carousel and Yoshino left Chiyo briefly to get her luggage too.

Soon, the group was all assembled in Chiyo's car and Chiyo drove them all to her place to drop her mom off. Yoshino seemed excited to be in town while Chiyo felt a little guilty for not telling her that she wasn't going to be spending the entire day with her.

"So, mom, I'm not going to be able to hang out today since I told a friend of mine that I was going to help tutor their sister. That's not going to be a problem, is it?" Chiyo asked as she drove.

"No it's fine, just be home before dinner ok?" Yoshino requested, receiving a single nod from Chiyo. When they arrived at Chiyo's place, Yoshino took her luggage from her bag out of the trunk. Yoshino shut the trunk closed and waved the girls good-bye before she went into the house.

Ami took a deep breath as she looked over her notes from yesterday's class. With only a few minutes left until twelve, Ami was inches away from stressing out over the all the homework she had for the weekend. Usually, she didn't get this much, nor did she have homework for every subject during the weekend. She remembered how she told Kazuya about her dilemma last night and how Kazuya shook it off nonchalantly saying,

"Well that just leaves a subject for each tutor! Chiyo's really great at History and Renge's pretty good in Literature, so hopefully the other two girls can cover Math and Science."

"This is just going to be a waste of time..." Ami sighed as she rested her head against the table under her folded arms. Just then, the door-bell rang and Ami shot straight up, running towards the door clumsily as she slid slightly against the floor.

She pulled the door open and saw the four girls Kazuya had promised as her tutors for the weekend standing in her doorway.

"Good morning Ami." Chiyo greeted as Ami let them in.

" 'Morning," Ami responded softly as she led the girls into the living room once they took off their jackets and shoes. The girls looked around Ami's living room as they sat down around the living room table. Ami's house seemed very plain for the most part, with no more than a few knick-knacks on the wall unit along with a small amount of family photos. There were a few generic, but aesthetically pleasing, paintings hung on the walls but for the most part, the only thing that stood out was Ami's neon pink binder laying on top of the table.

"Where's Kazuya?" Renge asked as she looked around the living-room for him from where she was sitting.

"He won't be home until sometime after one, give or take two if he isn't hanging out with Tamiko today." Ami said as she slowly pulled open her binder.

Yugure asked, "Who's Tamiko?"

"His girlfriend." Ami answered briefly, side-eyeing Renge in curiosity of what her reaction was going to be. Renge didn't appear as fazed as Ami had hoped, just surprised if anything.

"Ok, well...Anyways, where shall we begin?" Renge asked as she prompted the rest of the girls to look at Ami's binder with her.

"Hm, what would you say your trouble subject would be Ami?" Kanari asked as they began to flip through some of the pages in Ami's binder.

"Well..." Ami began slowly," Math is pretty tricky, Science is just really pointless to me, Literature's also kinda lame if you ask me and History is just plain boring if you ask me."

Ami then looked over to the girls, who had their heads against the living room table as if they were just drained of all their spirits and motivation.

"What did I do?!" Ami shouted as she looked at the girls in shock.

"Well, ok...you listed off Math first, which happens to be my strong suit." Kanari declared with a giant grin," So, what topic are you doing right now?"

"Polynomials." Ami said as she pushed the binder closer to Kanari for the blonde to have a better look.

"Hm, ok..." Kanari said as she read the worksheet inside of Ami's binder," So, it seems we've gotten to the topic of multiplying polynomials. With our example problem being 2x(x+3xy). So first we...Ami, are you listening?"

"Kinda, well I'm trying. I just can't concentrate on numbers when they get mixed together with the alphabet like this..." Ami explained sheepishly.

"Well, we can try substituting the alphabet out temporarily with something for you to ease into the idea. Is there anything in particular you'd like to use instead?" Kanari asked.

"Stuffed animals." Ami responded with a trace of uncertainty detectable in her voice. Renge and Yugure looked at her with a mix of surprise and confusion on their faces before looking over to Kanari to see what she would do.

"Interesting you should say stuffed animals..." Kanari remarked as she gestured Renge to give her her messenger bag. Renge did as gestured to and Kanari pulled out Renny, Topher and Xan from her bag. The three birds looked initially confused and annoyed at first but once they were face to face with Ami, their expressions went from irritated to neutral.

"So, instead of 2x, we now have 2Xan." Kanari declared as she pointed to Xan," Do you have any pencil crayons?"

Ami nodded her head swiftly, now appearing to be genuinely interested in the lesson with the usage of 'stuffed animals' rather than numbers. Ami reached for her pencil case inside her bag and gave it to Kanari. Kanari then wrote out the equation again and put a little drawing of Xan's face in the place of the 'X', with Topher replacing the 'Y'.

"So, in order to simplify this...we're going to distribute the 2Xan by multiplying it with the numbers in the brackets so, we should get 2Xan squared + 6Xan squared Topher." Kanari explained as she drew it out for Ami.

"That just sounds even more complicated..."Renge and Chiyo said quietly as Kanari coloured in the birds' heads in the equation.

"It all makes sense now!" Ami exclaimed in a joyous tone as she looked down at the page.

 _"No way!"_ Renge, Chiyo and Yugure all thought to themselves as Ami began to praise Kanari.

"But...there are still some other things on polynomials I've been having trouble with, think you could help me?" Ami requested.

"No problem!" Kanari responded with a thumbs-up," Can we see your notes this time?"

Ami blinked a couple of times, her eyes wide as she wasn't able to come up with a well-worded response as she replied with," I don't have any."

"What?!" The four of them shouted in unison.

"Just for math?" Renge asked cautiously, with Ami shaking her head as a response.

"Nope, don't have notes for anything really." Ami answered neutrally.

"How? Did your teachers never tell to take notes in class?" Yugure asked, the tone of her voice implicating that really hoped that wasn't the case.

"No, we have note-taking periods during class, I just don't take them." Ami responded tonelessly as the girls looked at her in astonishment.

"We need to make notes for her." Renge declared, with Kanari and Yugure nodding in agreement.

"That sounds like it'll take awhile..." Ami sighed, losing interest in this tutoring session quite quickly.

Renge shook her head saying," Not if we have anything to do with it. We'll make a full set of notes for you by the end of the day, we swear!" Renge, Kanari and Yugure then went looking through Ami's binder to see what she had already covered in class through her worksheets and began to work away. Ami seemed a little, if not very annoyed that they were going through her binder to make notes for her but, she couldn't blame them as they were only trying to help.

"So what am I supposed to do in the meantime?" Ami asked in slight revulsion, now realizing the girls were too immersed in the worksheets to help her right now.

Chiyo then asked her quietly, as if not to disrupt the girls," Have you had lunch yet?"

"No..." Ami responded looking at Chiyo skeptically.

"Let's go." Chiyo said as she led Ami over to the front door. The two of them got their coats and they walked out of the house, seemingly going by unnoticed by the girls. For a little while, the girls walked in silence down the street, Chiyo admiring the view and Ami still seeming pretty suspicious of Chiyo.

"I used to live in this neighborhood." Chiyo stated while they walked," Lived here all my life, up until I moved last year."

"Why did you move?" Ami asked as they continued to walk.

"Because my mom decided to buy a nicer house closer to the school for my family." Chiyo answered, holding back on a sigh.

"Oh yeah, you're the daughter of Sakurami Yoshino, the fashion designer right?" Ami asked in a tone that Chiyo found unusually nonchalant as she stared at her," A friend of mine told me that at beginning of the year. I'm not sure if you know this, but you kinda had a little fan-club in my class."

"Is that so?" Chiyo asked with a laugh," Strange, you seem less surprised by the fact that my mom's a fashion designer compared to most people."

"I guess I was more surprised a few months ago." Ami stated with a shrug," So, does that you get to see all of her designs first?"

"Actually, I rarely get to see them first." Chiyo answered," Whenever we Skype, we don't usually bring up her designs too often. When I was a kid though, before my mom got famous, I told my friends I was going to model for her someday."

"Do you still want to model for her?" Ami asked her.

"No, when I grow up, I'm being a movie director." Chiyo declared, who surprised Ami greatly.

"What? You don't seem like the type to want to be a director." Ami pointed out.

"It seems strange I know, but...it's always been my dream, even though I'll admit..." Chiyo began as she started to stare at the sidewalk," I've may have been losing sight of it lately..."

 _My earliest memories of me wanting to be a director may have been around six years old or something. All I remember was whenever I came home straight from school, I'd go play with my dolls, except whenever I played, I wrote down little scripts with lines that each of my 'actresses' would say. Barbie was no longer Barbie, she was playing the role of Misaki Suzumura, a detective who lives to uncover mysteries in her high-school with the help of her best friend, Yomi Kawaguchi. I had admitting this, but because of how much I loved making these unfilmed mini-movies, I was playing with my dolls well into fifth grade and by that time, I had a bunch of dolls that may've all look the same, but were given makeovers to less like my star, Chinami Nishijima. I was inspired to make little movies and shorts of them during this time when I was in the fifth grade after seeing them online, so I had posted a few videos during that year. I remember coming home from school one time and being unable to believe my eyes when I saw my latest video had forty views. It was also around that time when I decided I was going to be both a model and a director. I had quite a few people telling I was getting too old for dolls so I graduated from Barbies to paper dolls. I wasn't really much an artist but they were good enough for me. After the paper dolls, I moved onto printing dolls from doll makers online and used those for my actors. By middle school though, when my mom left for America, I got way into my filming, as a way to distract myself from my issues._

 _But, there was an incident in my last year of middle-school where I had to do a project with the one of the jocks in class._

 _At that point, I didn't even care who I was going to work with for the project and I was without a doubt sure that the jock, Tsukiya, would've invested any time into the project so of course, I ended up doing it all by myself._

 _Except... how I did the project wasn't at all to his liking._

 _"What the hell is this?!" Tsukiya shouted when I showed him the project._

 _"Is there a problem?" I asked him, my patience wearing thin already._

 _"Yeah, it doesn't look like something I'd write!" Tsukiya responded in frustration as he tossed the pages back to me," Ms Yumoto's going to know if I did none of the work if you hand this in."_

 _"That's not my problem." I responded before handing the little booklet onto the the teacher's desk, Ms Yumoto had gone to get something from the teacher's office. Class was over now and I was just about to head to my club, but I could hear Tsukiya following after me. I still find myself thanking the heavens that there were many students around in the halls at that particular time on that day. I didn't care about what he thought of my work, and I honestly didn't care about the project itself. I had spent the whole of the night before working on it, just so I wouldn't have to waste my time on it for the rest of the week; knowing that I have better things that I could've been doing with my time._

 _"You can't hand this thing in! Yumoto's going to give me a 0 and you full marks if you let her see this! I told you to give me the information and I would reword everything and make my own reports from it. I even gave you my email and you just made this thing!" Tsukiya shouted as he flapped the rolled-up booklet in his hands around," Hey, listen to me when I'm talking to you!"_

 _He pulled on my bag and some papers fell out. We immediately started picking up the papers and unluckily for me, he found the pages that I didn't want to fall into the wrong hands._

 _"What's this?" Tsukiya asked as he looked at the papers in his hands," Could these be...story-boards?"_

 _"Give those back!" I shouted as I lunged for them, but Tsukiya pulled them away from me._

 _"For my clay-mation video ;Chinami and the mystery of the Jaded Ghosts. " Tsukiya read out, snickering after he did so," You were the one who said they wanted to be a director at the beginning of the year weren't you? With lame stories like these, you're never going to be a director! You're too much of a selfish jerk to direct a movie anyways."_

 _He tossed back my story-boards and said," Get real and grow up." to me before he walked off._

 _Get real, that's all anyone had ever been saying to me these last couple of months, as if they were implying that my dreams could never have been reachable. Like, I shouldn't even try because I won't get anywhere. That I was being childish for thinking that I could become a director._

 _But, I told myself that I was going to prove them wrong; that I could be both mature and still believe that I could become a director. That growing up wouldn't mean that I would have to give up on my dreams._

 _I started helping out around the house a lot, and my dad thought it was to make up for mom's absence. I did so much around the house and I was so willing to learn how to cook and do laundry amongst a bunch of other things. I was determined to prove that I wasn't just immature kid who way over their heads, so if it meant that I had to become a mature, dignified middle-schooler to prove that I was serious about my dreams, so be it._

 _But, this kinda added onto my 'cold image' and soon, it seemed like people only saw me as that. It was only people who didn't know that well who thought me to be cold thankfully but...this always did irritate me. I just never did anything about though._

Chiyo took Ami to a little candy store where you could build your own ice-cream sandwiches. There were a bunch of people, little kids and teenagers alike, waiting in line at the table where you could choose what kind of gourmet monster cookies to use for your ice-cream sandwich while others were trying to decide on what confections to spend their money on at the other end of the store. Ami seemed very intrigued by the amount of people in line to make their ice-cream sandwiches, but what really grabbed her attention was the ice-cream served in cones in the shape of a flower. She had seen pictures of those online and seeing them in real life was even better.

"I want that." Ami declared excitedly as she tugged on Chiyo's arm.

Chiyo complied and the two walked over to the counter the flower-scoops were being made.

"What can I get you girls today?" The man behind the counter asked.

"Can I get a..." Ami began as her eyes went over to the board behind the man," A small raspberry and brownie flower scoop?"

The man nodded and looked towards Chiyo as she tried to decide on what to get.

"I'll have a small mango, banana and strawberry flower scoop." Chiyo ordered, still looking at the pretty pictures of the flower-scoops on the board behind them, feeling her mouth begin to water.

"Alright, that'll be eight fifty." The man responded as he punched the order into the register. Chiyo paid for the two cones and a few minutes later, Ami and Chiyo were sitting at a table eating their cones.

"It's so good!" Ami exclaimed after one lick. Chiyo giggled as Ami gawked at her cone in astonishment.

The girls ate their ice-cream in silence for a little while, and once Ami reached the point where she could eat her cone, she asked Chiyo," So, what kinda of movies do you want to make?"

Chiyo looked down at her ice-cream scoop as she tried to answer this and finally said," Thrillers, and history-oriented films."

"Sounds interesting." Ami said before she took a large bite from her cone," Any reason as to why?"  
"Um...I don't tell a lot of people this but...my dad's side of the family is full History fanatics so, I grew up being immersed into things like studies of Ancient Rome, Mesopotamia and such. History was amazing to me, and though I didn't usually get to see my dad's side of the family that often, it didn't bother me as much since they always sent me picture book about history. My dad really liked seeing me as being so invested in these books but, eventually, I found out why he enjoyed seeing me enjoy history so much. He would've rather me be a historian than a director. It sounds a little strange, but once you take into consideration that a bunch of people from my dad's side of the family work as historians, it almost seems sensible."

Chiyo took a bite of her cone and then said it a somewhat cynical voice," It's funny, he was the only one out of his siblings who didn't either work in a museum or become a historian. Maybe trying to encourage me to become a historian or something within the same field was his way of trying to prove to his parents that he still cared about history."

"So, does anyone on your dad's side of the family know that you want to be a movie director?" Ami questioned inquisitively.

"They all know, and they think the reason behind it because of the fact that my dad didn't become a historian like the rest of them and because my mom's a fashion designer, meaning that I apparently can get whatever I want in life now because of this." Chiyo answered with a bitter smirk.

"That doesn't sound very right." Ami pointed out as she finished her cone.

"It's not." Chiyo responded," But, I still do like history enough to want to make movies based on it. And, I don't think all the money in the world could make me change my dream at this point, especially when I've gotten so much support from my mom about it."

"Wait, your mom didn't want you to become a model for her?" Ami asked as she arched an eyebrow.

"Well, she was enthusiastic at the thought when I mentioned it, but she was just as enthusiastic when I said I wanted to be a director." Chiyo explained," She was the only one, despite being away for so long, who had kept telling me that I should chase my dreams no matter what anyone says."

"I wish my parents were like that." Ami mused, her gaze falling to the table," They seem pretty neutral towards my dream career, but I feel like once I get to your age, they'll start telling me to get real and stop being unreasonable."

"What's your dream career?" Chiyo asked curiously.

"I want to be an actress." Ami said, sounding a little embarrassed as she said this.

Chiyo blinked for a few moments in surprise, then smiled to her and said," Well, when I become a director, and you still want to be an actress, I'd be more than happy to offer you a role."

Ami then smiled back to her as the two of them stood up from their seats, ready to leave. Just before they left the candy store, something caught Ami's eye and she spun around, seeing a certain young blonde girl at the front of the line at the ice-cream sandwich counter.

"Yanami!" Ami shouted as she ran over to her.

"Oh, hey Ami, it's been a while hasn't it?" Yanami said as she finished assembling her ice-cream sandwich. Chiyo studied Yanami closely, taking note of the fact that she resembled Tsubaki greatly. Though, Yanami seemed a lot less perky than Tsubaki.

"Chiyo, this is Yanami. We were in the same class last year but she switched schools this year." Ami explained as she held her hand out in front of Yanami.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Yanami." Chiyo greeted," This might sound strange but...you don't have a sister, do you?"

"Yeah, her name's Tsubaki." Yanami answered, her gaze shifting onto her ice-cream sandwich," Do you know her?"

Chiyo nodded and was reminded of a conversation she had with Kanari the other day.

 _"So, she never responded to your text?" Chiyo asked Kanari, sounding less interested than she actually was._

 _"No." Kanari answered, shaking her head vigorously," At first, I thought it was because she was mad at me for offering to be her date in front of Kyo but then the next day, when I was planning to go and apologize to her...I didn't see her at school."_

 _"And you didn't see her the next day either right?" Chiyo questioned._

 _"Nope." Kanari reaffirmed," I haven't seen her since that day and, I don't think my offering to be her date is the reason why she's been missing. And the really scary thing is that no one knows what happened to her. Not Yugure, none of the girls from the basketball team. I even asked her sister and she doesn't know either."_

 _"Strange." Was all that Chiyo could say._

 _"Judging by the look on her face...Tsubaki hasn't been found yet."_ Chiyo said in her head as she and Ami walked out of the store.

"I wonder if your friends finished those notes today..." Ami said as she laced her fingers behind her head.

"I'd like to think they did but..." Chiyo trailed off, eye twitching as she thought about what chaos could have ensued in her absence," So, why didn't you take those notes?"  
Ami stopped walking for a moment and looked Chiyo straight in the eyes, asking her," Do you seriously want to know?" '

Chiyo only nodded a single nod in response.

"Imagine trying to explain division to third-graders using the birds." Kanari mused as she laughed a laugh that was bordering on hysterical.

"What's wrong with Kanari?" Xan whispered to Renge fearfully.

"This is what happens when she burns out after using her 'Mathari mode' for too long..." Renge answered as she kept her gaze on Kanari.

"So here's how division works kids! Imagine you have this plushie right here!" Kanari explained to her invisible audience as she held Topher," Imagine that you all want him. Not hard, I know. But wait! There's only one of him! So what shall we do? Divide him up into threes? Fours? But how we should we divide him? Down the center or-?"

Renge then smacked Kanari over the head with a rolled up stack of paper, making Kanari fall flat on her face to the floor as Renge said," Congratulations Kanari! You've just reserved yourself a spot in hell!"

The girls were all getting quite tired at this point, having finished Ami's notes without taking any breaks, their brains now fried and their arms throbbing with pain.

Yugure was busy texting Chiyo, trying to find out where she and Ami went while looking over her conversation with her from a few days ago.

 _"I think something really bad might have happened to one of my friends..."_ Yugure texted a few nights ago.

Chiyo had texted back," _Elaborate?"_

 _"So, my friend Minato came back from Uni a few weeks ago and we hung out for a few days and when I tried making plans with him, he didn't respond. I tried calling him and and I only got his voice mail." Yugure explained through the text._

 _"Maybe he lost his phone." Chiyo suggested._

 _"I thought that might've been the case, but...when I asked his parents the other day if I could see him, they only told me now wasn't a good time. And, I asked his girlfriend if she had any idea where he could be, but she didn't know either. I think he's been kidnapped."_

 _"Let's not jump to any conclusions ok? I can help you try and figure out why he might not have been answering your calls and stuff tomorrow alright?"_

Yugure turned off her phone and stared at the blank screen for a few moments before looking up, trying to reevaluate this whole situation.

Back at Chiyo's house, a couple of hours later, Yoshino had just finished working on a design that she had been working over for the last two days. It felt good to have finally finish it, but she knew she wouldn't have been able to without little creature helping her out along the way.

"Oh Phoebe, how come you never stay around long enough for me to properly thank you?" Yoshino asked aloud as she ran her fingers through her hair. She looked at the clock behind her and decided it was about time to start dinner, but she wasn't intending on starting until Chiyo came home. Yoshino then turned on her phone and looked over the text Chiyo sent her before, telling her what address she would be at.

"Huh, that's really close to our house." Yoshino remarked as she looked at the address," And that's only half an hour on foot."

And with that, Yoshino decided to go out and walk to Ami's place to pick up Chiyo.

Elsewhere, at Temptation, Temptasia sat at a large table with Zephora standing at her side as they viewed a large screen of a world map. The map was covered in bright shiny lilac dots all over it and the more Temptasia looked at it, the more it made her sick to her stomach.

Temptasia shut her eyes and finally, she said," She thinks I don't know what she's doing and that's honestly infuriating me."

"So, what are you going to do?" Zephora inquired as she looked over to Temptasia," Weed out the citizens from Univer?"

"No, that's too easy. And it's much too soon for that." Temptasia declared as she stared at the screen,"She's going to atone for this. This...idea that we're on the same level. She's going to wish she never sent her people into the human world."

Temptasia took a brief glance at Zephora and held back a sigh. Without the map, Zephora wouldn't have ever known that the civilians from Univer were relocating in the human world. But, Temptasia's source told her that they could just feel the presence of Univer citizens in the human world so of course, she had to check that out for herself. She could feel their presence as well and it made her skin crawl.

"Where's Vice?" Zephora then questioned suddenly,"Out looking for the book?"

"No. He's somewhere around here." Temptasia said as she stood up from the table.

Zephora took a deep breath and ended up asking Temptasia," Don't you think he should be out looking for the book? It's only a matter of time before those Cures find it. And then all of our hard work will be for nothing."

"Zephora, while finding the book is my main priority, I do have back-up plans in case we fail to find the book before them." Temptasia declared before Vice walked into the room.

Temptasia smiled and walked over to Vice and then asked Zephora," Do you know what's almost as strong as those scepters in use for luring out the book?"

"No, what?" Zephora asked, impatience ringing out in her voice.

"Inner Scholars...strong Inner Scholars." Temptasia answered in a strangely tranquil voice. Temptasia looked at Vice expectantly and Vice simply disappeared.

"So, Ami...just so we're sure, you understand the notes right? You don't have any questions?" Chiyo asked as they all looked to Ami anxiously.

Ami looked down at the countless stacks of pages in front of her, covering Literature to Math to Science. She had never seen so notes well organized, neat and not to mention highlighted. She then looked over to her very tired tutors and finally said,

"No questions."

The girls all sighed in relief and laid their heads against the table.

"So I guess that means we can go home now right?" Yugure asked as she stretched her arms out with a yawn.

Just then, the girls heard a shriek from outside of Ami's house and instinctively, the four of them ran towards the window to see what was going on with Ami following behind them.

"That looks like that thing from the cafe!" Ami shouted as she caught a glimpse of what awaited the girls outside. The girls looked over to Chiyo, giving her look that was screaming "Do something!" as they looked at Ami.

"Quick, Ami, where's the best place to hide in your house?" Chiyo asked her.

Ami took a few moments to think and didn't even give Chiyo a response as she led her upstairs.

The rest of the girls then ran outside and were met with a Delinquous made from a blender that was glowering down at them.

The three of them held out their pens high and shouted," Pretty Cure, study session!"

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!"

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!"

"The subject of experiments and endless discoveries, Cure Science!"

The Delinquous ran after the girls, who led it to a nearby park. Arithmetic darted up into the air and conjured up her scepter, holding it in front of herself as she shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Conversion blizzard!"

Arithmetic sent a freezing cold blizzard down in the direction of the Delinquous and a couple of moments later, after she had landed back on the ground, the blizzard had disappeared. The Delinquous shook itself dry, now seething with rage and began to chase the girls again. The three of them ran and moments after, Science summoned her scepter and transformed it into it's Caduceus form and held it in front of herself defensively.

"Pretty Cure, Galactic mirage!" She shouted, this time, creating a pool of water between the two of them.

"Let me help." Arithmetic offered as she twirled her scepter around in her hands," Pretty Cure, Imperial dendrite!"

Her attack froze the little pool that Science had created just the Delinquous stepped foot on it. As the Delinquous stepped onto the pool, without realizing it had been frozen over, it skidded onto it's feet and slid across the frozen pool at a rapid rate.

The Cures guard went down for a couple of moments as they watched the Delinquous slide against the pond, but just then, as it inched near to them, the Delinquous grabbed Literature and Arithmetic and threw them to the far end of the park while it kicked Science in her midsection and sent her flying a few feet away.

As Science tried standing up, taking short breaths after nearly getting winded, she looked over to her fellow Cures and heard them saying something about the Delinquous.

"They just keep getting inexplicably stronger..." Literature said as she rubbed her left shoulder, receiving a nod in agreement from Arithmetic.

 _"So it really isn't just me!"_ Science thought to herself.

Ami and Chiyo sat in her attic, while Chiyo was getting ready to leave while Ami tried to call Kazuya. He was supposed to be home an hour ago, but, he had yet to show up. Ami seemed to be severely unimpressed with her unresponsive brother and groaned as she reached Kazuya's voicemail for the fifth time in a row within the last ten minutes.

"He's still not picking up." Ami reported, sounding majorly aggravated as she dropped her phone into her lap.

The fact that Kazuya wasn't responding was the least of Chiyo's worries, as she tried listening for the cries of the Delinquous. She heard nothing sounding remotely similar to the Delinquous within the last couple of minutes.

"It doesn't sound like it's not there anymore...I'm just going to go downstairs and check alright?" Chiyo declared as she crawled out of the attic," You stay here."

Chiyo tip-toed her way to the front door, holding her pen out as she tried looking through the front windows to see if the Delinquous was still outside. Once she peered through the windows, she took a small sigh of relief and then realized, since the girls weren't back in the house yet, that could've only meant they migrated their battle somewhere else.

She rushed out of the house, but before she could get any further, her path was blocked by Zephora standing in front of her.

"You need to get to get out of my way." Chiyo declared viciously as she held her pen in front of herself. Just then, the Delinquous came stomping back towards them and in a split-second, it dove down and picked up Chiyo, holding her above it empty pitcher as it held it's lid. The three Cures caught to the Delinquous and they stood their helplessly, eyes wide as they saw Chiyo writhe within the Delinquous' grasp as the Delinquous pressed a button on it's body that said puree.

"Put me down right now!" Chiyo screamed as she tried to break free from the Delinquous' clutch," If you don't unhand me right now, I swear you're going to regret it!"

"Crush her." Zephora demanded without a single trace of remorse in her tone. The Delinquous squeezed Chiyo in it's hands and Chiyo just gritted her teeth, her face turning red as she took very short breaths. She looked rather exhausted compared to how she appeared just a few moments before Zephora's demand.

"What should we do?" Arithmetic whispered to Literature, who continued to look at Chiyo and the Delinquous warily.

"I don't know." Was all Literature could respond with after a few moments.

"Hmph, as I expected, you're all talk and no show!" Zephora shouted to Chiyo.

Those words, they reminded Chiyo of the fact that for the longest time, she kept pushing her dream of being a director aside, even though she kept telling herself that working towards it would come later. She may've told herself that about a thousand times at this point, but it sounded just as insincere as every other time. How was that possible? She started to wonder why she kept convincing herself that she was still as driven towards her dream when she knew the fear of being unsuccessful always manage to appear every time she thought about it. Maybe, Zephora was on to something. But just then, as she tried to remember how she had gotten this far in believing she could be a director, a certain person popped into her mind.

 _"Mom..."_

Chiyo then wiggled her hand that was holding her pen free from the Delinquous' clutch and held it up high as she shouted,

"Pretty Cure, study session!"

The yellow lights that began to flood out from Chiyo's pen were bright, and surprisingly, quite hot in the Delinquous' grip. So hot that it inevitably dropped Chiyo as she transformed, becoming Cure History as she landed on her feet.

"The subject of generations past with tales that are sure to last, Cure History!" She announced.

"Let's end this quickly." History said to her fellow teammates, the girls nodding in agreement.

The Delinquous then began to suck up all the trees around into it's pitcher as it tried to inhale the girls in. The girls held into the fence of Ami's house for dear life as it continued to inhale everything in sight.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Arithmetic shouted over to roars of the Delinquous as it sucked everything up.

"I've got an idea!" Literature shouted triumphantly with a snap of her fingers," One of us will need to try and get to the puree button on the Delinquous to turn it off."

"But how are going to reach it if keeps trying to suck us up like this?" Science asked as she gripped the fence tightly.

"We'll form a chain towards the button and once one of us gets close enough to it, Arithmetic will freeze them onto the ground where they can turn it off!" Literature explained.

"I'll do it." History volunteered, receiving a nod in approval from Literature. The Cures formed a chain together, holding their arms out as long as they could, with Science clinging onto the fence and Arithmetic holding onto History. History was only a few inches away now and finally, once she drew close enough, she let go of Arithmetic.

Within that very second, Arithmetic shouted," Pretty Cure, Imperial dendrite!" Thus freezing History onto the ground as she conjured up her scepter and transformed into it's staff form, pressing the button down with the staff and shouting,

"Pretty Cure, Storming legend!"

The Delinquous was struck to it's feet as History attacked, falling onto it's back and making minimal movement to try and get up, signifying it's defeat.

"Now!" History declared.

"Open Sesame!" History shouted as she conjured out Juli, who bestowed upon her the gold key, placing it into her scepter.

"Boom snap clap!" Arithmetic shouted as she conjured up Bertie, who conjured out the metallic blue key.

"With ardency!" Literature cried as she held her scepter up high.

"With precision!" Arithmetic cried.

"With justice!" History cried.

"With wonder!" Science cried.

"Pretty Cure, Scholastic examination!" They all shouted in unison, purifying the Delinquous in the process.

"A-plus!" The girls cheered as the Delinquous was cleansed. But, small, dark remnants of it disappeared into the ground, going unseen by the girls.

History looked around for Zephora, who had long vanished and thought to herself,

 _"I hadn't been putting any efforts into my dreams for such a long time and I always felt like things would fall into place but...how are they supposed to fall into places, when I haven't done anything at all? But, what can I do now? Continue to work by myself on my little mini movies? No, I can do more that. There's Drama and Film club, where I can work with a bunch of people in a team and get a feel for working with actors. There's still hope for me."_

"History, are you alright?" Literature asked as History zoned out.

"Huh, um, yeah! Never better." History reassured.

"It is so unlike her to answer her phone like this!" A voice nearby lamented.

The girls all rushed behind the the corner of the street, where they could be hidden by a fairly tall brick wall. De-transforming here wouldn't have been the best idea as it usually generated a lot of flashing lights that were more than likely going to get a lot of attention, so they stood there, still in Cure form as they looked over to the sidewalk where they heard the voice come from.

They saw Yoshino standing in front of Ami's house, try to look into the windows from behind the fence to see if anyone was home. She couldn't see anyone, but just then, those dark remnants of the Delinquous that disappeared into the ground returned and manipulated themselves to look like Chiyo.

"What the hell is that thing?" History asked as she nearly ran to it, being held back by Literature.

"Mom, I'm right here." The Chiyo impersonator said from behind Yoshino.

History tried desperately to go, having this instinct that this was going to spawn into something terrible, but Literature kept holding onto her. History knew she probably could've broke free from Literature's grip but then again, Literature was of course likely holding her back for a good reason. But whatever reason that was was beyond her.

Yoshino spun around, after hearing what she thought was Chiyo and the impersonator snapped her fingers, a black, shimmery dust whizzing out from her fingertips and surrounding Yoshino and lulling her into a deep sleep. Yoshino was carried into the impersonator's arms and the impersonator looked around to make sure there were no witnesses. The impersonator seemed pleased, after seeing that there was no one in sight and as History finally ripped herself out from Literature's grasp to save her mom, the impersonator vanished.

"Mom!" History shouted before the impersonator disappeared as she tried to reach out towards her.

History couldn't believe her eyes, and stared off into the very spot where her mom and the impersonator were just a few moments ago. She could feel anger bubbling over within her but, confusion was the emotion that was currently dominating her mind right now as she tried to piece this together. Her legs gave out and she sat on the sidewalk as her head began swimming. The other Cures were calling out for her, but she couldn't hear them as she was too deep in her own thoughts.

When the Cures arrived at her side, it finally came to her.

"Temptation...they're...they're taking away our loved ones!" History shouted in realization as her breathing quickened.

Science and Arithmetic said nothing, trying to let this register while Literature just double-blinked in disbelief before trying to calm History down.

Literature began, "Come on History, you and I both know, there could be some more...logical reason behind thi-"

"Renge! None of _this_ is logical!" History exasperated as she waved her hands in front of herself as tears started to form in her eyes," It would only sense for this illogical thing to correlate with the reason as to why all our friends and family have gone missing. For goodness sake, did you not just see what happened?"

Literature just stared at History, unable to say anything.

"This is going to catch up to you too. As a matter of fact, you're next." History declared ominously," You may be indifferent towards this right now but, this is going to come and hurt you as much as it did to us."

Literature claimed weakly," I'm being indifferent-"

"-Maybe we should call it quits." Science suggested timidly, That way no one else gets kidnapped."

"If we quit now, Univer Kingdom along with our own world is going to be faced with worse than innocent people getting kidnapped." Literature said sternly," So I can't have you girls give up on me now. We've gotten this far, we can't let this get the best of us."

History then said, after a large sigh," You're right."

That night, when Renge got home from tutoring Ami, she laid on her bed cross-legged, lost in thought as she stared down at her bed-sheets. The three birds looked at her with concern as she stared off into space before Renny asked her,

"Renge, are you alright?"

"Do you think I'm a good leader?" Renge then asked all of a sudden," What am I saying? Of course you do!"

Renge forced a chuckle and said nothing more while Renny decided against answering the question.


	32. Worth the risk

Renge sat on top of her bed, looking through a booklet she had received at the beginning of the year from a university. The booklet was still in mint condition for the most part, with a few pages here and there marked with sticky notes on top of them. The book itself was quite nice to look at, but even with months past, it still felt rather intimidating in her small hands. It was hard to believe there were literally only a couple of weeks left until the last day of class and the thought of it was beginning to drive her mad. She couldn't believe how quickly time was slipping through her fingers, but as the days began to grow longer and warmer, the more imminent graduation was.

She glanced over to the three birds who were doing their work, looking through some notes they made and trying to figure out what happened to the three that Chiyo had mentioned the other week. Chiyo ended up apologizing to Renge for lashing out on her and Renge apologized to her for holding her back, but somehow, Chiyo's apology felt empty to her.

"Renge, can you come downstairs?" Renge's mom shouted. Renge's head shot up immediately and she jumped off her bed before rushing down the stairs moments after.

"What is it?" Renge asked at the foot of the staircase as she saw her mom standing by the front door with a few letters in hand.

"For you." Sanae said as she passed Renge a large envelope. Renge gingerly took the enveloped from her mom and ran back upstairs to open up the letter in privacy. She sat on top of her bed again, with the envelope before as tried to figure out what this could've been before opening it. The envelope came from an admissions office at a college out of town she had applied to for both graphic design and education. She took a large gulp as her mind flashed back to that day a few months back when she finally caved and tried to apply to a college out of the city upon her Uncle Fuyuki's request.

"What's that?" Renny asked, startling Renge slightly.

"I don't know yet." Renge simply responded as she decided it was high time she opened up the letter.

With a deep breath, she slid her nail into the opening at the side of the envelope and ripped it open a few moments later. Inside the envelope was a look-book and a letter. Renge looked at the letter nervously and began to read it.

"Oh my god." Was all Renge was able to say after she finished reading the letter, her eyes wide when she took her gaze away from the page.

"What is it?" Topher beckoned.

Renge looked down at the letter again to double-check and make sure she hadn't misread anything. No misreading at all, and all Renge could do was place a hand over her mouth.

"What is it? What is it?" Xan questioned impatiently.

"I got accepted to Nishioka!" Renge cheered as she held out the letter for the trio of birds to see.

"Is this a good thing?" Xan asked as he arched an eyebrow while looking at the letter with his brothers.

"Yeah, it really is..." Renge answered, her mind finally being able to process this as she thought about the fact that she was going to move out. Renge then looked through the look-book for a couple of moments to calm herself down.

"What's with all the yelling?" Sanae asked as she and Hikaru entered the room, not even knocking as they did so.

"I got into Nishioka." Renge answered with a huge grin engraved onto her face as she handed her mom the letter of acceptance.

"For graphic design?" Hikaru asked while Sanae read through the letter.

"For education." Sanae stated in surprise as she passed the letter over to Hikaru," Well, I guess that means we'll need to start looking for a place for you to stay at. As well as a few other things."

"But what about the graphic design course-?" Hikaru asked while Sanae began to pull him out of the room with her as Renge gave them the gesture to leave.

"Yeah, I thought you liked art." Topher stated while Renge read the look-book again. She sunk into her bed and avoided answering the question as she flipped through the pages of the book, pretending that she was too immersed in the book to have even heard Topher.

 _"I'm going have to start packing my bags soon huh..."_ Renge thought to herself as she proceeded to look through the book.

The next day, the girls had a meeting in Renge's room to discuss what could've happened to the three that had gone missing as of recently. Renny and Topher had a white-board behind them that Renge borrowed from Hikaru with a bunch of notes and such written on it, while Xan sat in Yugure's lap.

The girls all sat on Renge's bed with a bowl of cookies in front of them as they looked at the white-board.

"So, currently, the only people we can assume to have been...taken are, Kemuri Tsubaki, Hoshizawa Minato and Sakurami Yoshino." Renny debriefed, making sure to carefully choose his words in the girls' presence.

"And, it's safe to assume that Temptation likely has them." Renge added as she looked over to her fellow teammates, an apologetic look in her eye," I'm sorry if it seemed like I wasn't taking the matter seriously when Chiyo's mom was taken, I didn't know what to think in the heat of the moment."

"It's fine. It's behind us now." Chiyo declared stoically as she kept her gaze on the white-board," What we need to do now is figure out how to bring them back and end this once and for all. Because, something tells me we're inching closer to our final battle."

Renge nodded in agreement, as did Kanari and Yugure as they looked towards Renny and Topher.

"It's a possibility." Renny stated, his tone unusually vague as he pointed to the board being unsure of anything else to do.

"The Delinquouses are getting stronger too." Yugure then mentioned," Every time we fight them, it's like they've gotten stronger than the last one, a lot stronger."

The other girls nodded in agreement as they looked over to Renny and Topher who of course, didn't know exactly what to make of that.

"But...I guess we'll discover the answer to that soon enough." Renge disclosed, an undertone of fear made detectable in her voice," It's getting late, maybe you guys should head home."

Yugure furrowed her brows and then looked at her phone to check the time, with her eyes widening in surprise upon seeing how late it actually was.

"Wow, time flies when you're discussing Pretty Cure huh?" Yugure said with a forced chuckle as she and the rest of the girls gathered their things and left Renge's room. But, before the room was fully cleared out, Renge held Kanari back.

"What is it?" Kanari questioned.

"I've been thinking...maybe, just to make sure...we could, do some looking around for some clues of some sorts." Renge suggested to her.

Kanari looked at her suspiciously in response," Clues?"

"Like...anything leading towards the book, maybe it's in some place that we haven't checked yet. Wanna check out around that mall in Kagoyuki?" Renge offered.

"Sure of course!" Kanari responded readily," We could even get Ando to help look around for the book again, he said he had fun helping out with Xan last time anyways."

"So...meet you there at two?" Renge asked as Kanari began to walk out of her room.

"It's a date." She replied with a thumbs-up and a wink.

Once Kanari left, Renge went towards her bed, dropping the cheerful facade as she groaned into her bed-sheets, with glasses being pressed uncomfortably against her face. When she raised her head up, the birds looked at her in concern and she said nothing to them as she placed a pillow under her chest.

There were a lot of things on Renge's mind right now, things that of course involved the Pretty Cure and other things she didn't dare speak about on account feeling like a broken record if she did so. At this point, everyone in third year was dreading the thought of graduation and it was hard to watch the once gallant class turn into a bunch of stressed-out young adults. But, it was an unspoken tradition that happened with every class of third-years each year. They acted like they were ready to face the world ahead of them as well all of the challenges as adults they'd face. From a middle-schooler's point of view, they were like deities. But, anyone in second-year could tell it was nothing more than act, an act that they themselves would soon put on in a few months to come. Of course, this act only lasted for a few months and soon, within the final month of the school year, the third years would appear to be in their own little worlds, feeling as if they were no longer high-schoolers, but thankfully not yet university students.

Renge, like the rest of the kids in her grade, was beginning to feel less and less like a high-school as the days continued to pass her by. Despite the fact that she continuously was hanging out kids in second-year and even first-year, she still no longer felt like one of them though graduation had to come. Not to mention, there was one other issue from a couple a couple of months ago that persisted to bother her no matter what.

Her mind went back to that lunch period a few weeks ago when she tried asking Nao out and literally ran away. She stuffed her face into the pillow and began kicking her legs up into the air angrily.

"Why couldn't I ask him?" Renge shouted into the pillow, her voice greatly muffled. She sighed and rested her head against it, knowing that shouting into a pillow wasn't likely going to get her anywhere. It was much too late to ask him now, with the last day of class drawing near. But, it would've been nice to know what his response would've been. What bothered Renge the most was the fact that these feelings weren't showing any signs of leaving, as just the thought of Nao still made her heart skip a beat. She wondered how such a thing was possible when they hadn't talked for legitimate months. She also wondered if Nao was experiencing the same issue as her. Renge then turned onto her back and grabbed her phone from her pocket, scanning through her contacts to see if she could ask anyone else out who was in grade and who also without a date.

"Damn...most of my contacts are either girls or in second year..." Renge cringed to herself, seeing only a few names such as Katsuzaki Ryo and Kyo stand out from her list of contacts.

"Well, if memory serves, Kyo already has a date and Ryo's actually bringing his girl from Haruekawa to the dance." Renge groaned to herself before she dropped her phone onto her face," This is hopeless."

"Renge, what are you looking for?" Xan suddenly asked her.

"Uh, nothing really. Don't worry about it," Renge said as she waved a hand in dismissal, pressing an app on her phone that had a cream coloured camera for an icon. As the app was loading pictures onto the screen, Renge thought,

 _"Maybe I should talk to somebody about this whole dilemma..."_

Kanari would've been her first choice if of course, Kanari had some first-hand experience with Nao but, since she lacked that, she was out of the question. She didn't know many people who had experience this issue like her, but it's not like the many people was synonymous for no one.

She texted Kokoro, asking her if she wanted to hang out tomorrow at the mall or something and awaited a response as she rested her phone beside her. Just then, her phone vibrated and she picked it up in an instant, seeing that Kokoro had responded to her.

 _"I have stay back after club for a little get-together in honor of the third-year's graduation. Maybe Saturday?"_ Kokoro texted.

 _"Sure, how does twelve at Kagoyuki mall sound?"_ Renge texted.

 _"Great! I'll see you then, ok?"_ Kokoro texted back.

Renge looked up from her phone and merely shrugged, feeling a little at ease now knowing she would have this session between her and Kokoro to just talk and maybe for Renge to vent about the feelings that she had been letting dwell within her for months now.

On Saturday morning, Renge arrived at the mall a little earlier than intended, which resulted in her sitting at a bench in the mall, waiting for Kokoro. To kill time, she started to play a game on her phone while she felt goose bumps crawl up her legs, having decided to wear shorts today. The mall was air-conditioned and Renge only had on a thin black cardigan, a red top with a golden butterfly that barely covered her midriff and to complete her ensemble, she had on a grey pair of shorts with dark maroon shoes. As she waited for Kokoro to come, she managed to have noticed a few kids from her school at this mall today, which wasn't something that necessarily surprised her as Kagoyuki was close to Seinori, not walking distance, but close enough for kids who actually lived around the school to visit. Renge didn't often go to this mall, but not because she disliked it or anything, it was quite the opposite, she just never made time to come when she could. Plus more than half the time, she was penniless whenever she came. Except for today.

Kagoyuki was considered the most lively mall in town, with three levels, it's first level being only a gym and the other two populated by many, many stores. Stores that attracted mostly teens and were only found in this mall. Renge herself had to admit, there were a few stores in here that she really did love, from the giant clothes store with two levels to the store where she and Kanari could buy all their gothic jewelery in piece, this mall seemed to appeal to every teenager in town.

"I still haven't even bought my shoes yet." She heard what sounded like one of her classmates say as she walked past Renge. She shot her head up and it wasn't one of her classmates, but rather, Akemi the vice-president. Akemi was walking with a few other girls from their grade and Akemi waved at her with a smile on her face as she walked past. Renge waved back awkwardly, moments before Kokoro arrived.

"Hey." Kokoro greeted with a large smile on her face as she sat beside Renge.

"Hey, thanks for coming." Renge said as she and Kokoro stood up from the bench," Sorry I planned this so last minute though."

"It's alright, don't worry about it!" Kokoro responded as she waved a hand in dismissal," Now, where shall we go first?"

Later, Renge and Kokoro sat at a table outside of a coffee shop in the mall, both of them having beverages from the shop in hand, along with a few little shopping bags on the table.

Renge tilted her head back as she reclined in the seat, stirring her caramel frappuccino with her straw as she took a deep breath. The two of them bought a few things, nothing too expensive, just phone cases and jewelery and now coffee.

"So how's work been?" Kokoro asked her casually before taking a sip from her iced coffee.

"It's been fine." Renge said as she continued to stir her drink," I've just not been a lot of hours lately, but manager said things should pick up in a couple of months though..."

"Though...?" Kokoro continued for her curiously.

"...I might not be here by then." Renge finished, sounding a tad anxious as she looked at Kokoro in curiosity of what her reaction would be.

"Are you going to a University out of town?" Kokoro asked with Renge nodding a single nod," Nice."

"That's it?!" Renge questioned in a voice louder than intended, resulting in her clamping her own mouth shut while Kokoro just giggled at her.

"Lots of people are going out of town for University." Kokoro stated neutrally," Like Akemi, Ayano and a few others."

"Yeah, you do have a point. It just feels so sudden for me and, I'm kinda nervous about leaving..." Renge said uneasily," I'm going have to learn to live on my own, make another new set of friends, leave a bunch of people behind..."

"No offense but, it sounds like something's holding you back." Kokoro declared candidly.

Renge shrugged and with a nod, Renge said," Yeah, I'll admit, I'm having my doubts on whether or not I should go out of town for University. I'll be honest, I don't like change and I'm comfortable here, so I'm thinking, since thing's are just fine here, why not stay?"

Kokoro stared down at her drink as she tried to think of a response. Renge's content with how things were right now...it reminded her of herself a couple of years ago. How things were before she accepted the fact that sometimes things just had to change for the better.

"Renge, can I tell you a story?" Kokoro asked hesitantly.

"By all means." Renge permitted.

"...It involves me and Nao as a couple..." Kokoro added, sounding even more hesitant.

"By all means." Renge repeated, lacing her hands into each other and placing her head on them," I've been curious to know how you two got together anyways..."

"My god, Renge..." Kokoro said under her breath before she began her story.

 _When I was in middle school, I was very uncertain of a lot of things, things involving my identity, and because I was so uncertain with these things, I was getting really unhappy and started to see everything in a negative point of view. I didn't like how I looked, I didn't think I could be happy knowing that people would perceive me in a way that I didn't see myself in. It was weird, the thought of having strangers walk past me and make assumptions would just make me really mad and I couldn't exactly explain why to be honest._

 _It was also during middle-school where I felt really insecure about myself, and I didn't like the body I was in. Not to say, I disliked my image, now I think look fine but...I don't think it's for me. Probably doesn't make sense but, that's just how it is._

 _Talking about my issues wasn't something I was ever keen on doing so instead I just bottled everything up. I considered myself pretty good at this and though I had my own shares of moments where I had broken down, I believed things were better this way. The idea of trying to figure who I was made me nervous at times, so I thought, it's better off if I don't try and just leave it as is and live being as sure as I could that I wasn't normal. A little confused, but a livable kind of confused._

 _So, when I started developing feelings for Nao, after having breaking up with a girl who meant the world to me, well, that just confused even more. I thought I wouldn't ever fall for somebody like him let alone...never mind._

 _When I was with Nao, he was a different person from who is he today, a much different person. He was caring and while he may have not been loud and super-talkative, he was a sincere kid who always there for me. He may've been a little awkward back then too but, he was willing to put in the effort in the relationship, he was willing to overcome the awkwardness. Back then, I feel like he may've been more timid rather than cold. And, when I was feeling all insecure about myself, he willingly offered to listen to me._

 _"Nao, I don't want to upset you or anything. I don't want to be a burden to you either." A middle-school Kokoro had said to Nao years ago._

 _Nao looked down to the lawn the two were on, underneath a tree, not wanting to drop the subject but unsure of what to say. Finally, he looked up to her, staring straight into her green eyes and said,_

 _"But, you're not being a burden to me. I feel bad because you feel like you can't tell me what's going on with you. Kokoro, I care about you and, I don't like seeing you sad."_

 _Kokoro looked at him in surprise, not sure of what to say since she wasn't expecting him to say anything like that._

 _She looked at the ground quickly as tears started forming in her eyes,"B-but, what I'm about to say...you aren't going to like it, not one bit. In fact, you might just hate me for it and you'll just-"_

 _Nao put his hand on top of Kokoro's hand, offering her a shy but genuine smile as he said,"If you don't want to tell me now, it's fine. But, please know I'm on your side. After all, I've been here this long haven't I?"_

 _Right then and there, Kokoro explained everything, her constant self-esteem issues along with feeling as if she wasn't in the right body. Nao listened carefully and said nothing and once Kokoro was finished explaining herself, the two sat there in silence for a few moments. Kokoro felt nervous, having a feeling that were worst case scenario had become a reality._

 _"You don't want to leave me, do you?" Kokoro finally asked, feeling a quite regretful in confessing now._

 _"You'd still be Kokoro to me." Nao responded neutrally," You may not like how you look, but I do. Though, I know I don't get a say in how you feel about your appearance. If you know, not being a girl makes you happy then...who am I to stop you?"_

 _Kokoro bit back a smile and feeling unable to hold back on smiling any longer, she simply covered her mouth._

 _"No, don't do that." Nao said as he noticed Kokoro was covering her mouth, causing her to look at him in confusion," I like your smile."_

 _Kokoro stopped hiding her smile and said to Nao before kissing him," I love you so much."_

To this day, I still get a bunch of people telling me that I'm not 'masculine enough' or that I seem too girly to be...you know. Sometimes, I have girls getting a little annoyed with me when I say this because they think I'm pretty. Which I'm not denying, but, I just don't feel like this is for me. People also seem really suspicious of me when I come out about it because my hair is all long and I still wear skirts every now and then. Not to mention I'm ok with still being called Kokoro. The reason I'm ok with being called Kokoro is because well, it is still my name, plus it's a cute name and while I'd rather be Neji, Kokoro is fine for now. In all honesty, I feel like I'll be letting people call me Kokoro for longer than intended, so it'll probably come off as a shock when I start correcting people. But, there's one person I know for sure that I don't think I'd ever correct, though after next year, I doubt we'd ever see each other as often. That one person is Nao.

"So, you think sometimes it's ok to be uncomfortable with something at first, even if it'll get you somewhere better later on?" Renge asked Kokoro cautiously," _I didn't expect her to open up that much, now I feel like I need to open up to her.."_

 _When I was eight, I decided what I wanted to be when I grew up. What I wanted to be was an author. I was going to write stories about fairies and mermaids and I was always thinking of new installments to my series. At first, my friends thought I was kinda cool, and they wanted be involved, asking me to put them into the series. I gladly included upon their requests but, after a couple of years, my dreams seemed really childish to them. They said I was being unrealistic and delusional by middle school but I didn't listen to them, even after they said my dreams could never come true._

 _"I'll prove them wrong." I always said to myself every time I heard them laughing at me,"I'll make sure of it."_

 _Middle-school was a rough time for me as the more time I put into my little series, the more disconnected I was from the rest of my friends. At first, it wasn't an issue. But, when it got harder to talk to them upon realizing we no longer had anything in common, it was either conform and be like them or just drop them. I tried being like them, but once I realized that they weren't who I thought they were after seeing them gossip about some of my other friends in class, I just stopped hanging out with them, deciding that I would've rather write than be friends with them._

 _My stories were beginning to all look quite similar to each other as the years in middle-school went by. I thought I was unoriginal at this point, because I felt like nothing was coming to me. I put writing aside and tried to pick up on my drawings. I liked art, and I figured, maybe if I got better, I could do something with art instead of writing. Maybe become a designer of some sorts. I decided that becoming a designer might've been easier for me and so, I dropped writing for a while so I could focus on my art. You get to this point in your life where you wonder if you're going to be good enough, if you'll ever get anywhere following your dreams and some believe they'll get somewhere. Others just face the reality of things._

 _I did write a lot in my spare time during my first-year of high school, when I had yet to push it aside and when I wrote, words came naturally. They just flowed and I'd be there, writing things like love stories and fantasies for hours for a non-existent audience. It gave me such a thrill to write knowing that I could write whatever I wanted, however I wanted. Writing was an escape, a liberating escape that almost never failed to bring me joy. But, knowing that I wasn't likely going to be able to come up with anything spectacular made me lose interest so over time, I just kinda stopped writing for a while._

 _Art was just as much of an escape for me as writing was, I have fun doing it but...I'm always comparing myself to others. I know I can't I'm great at it, but I can always say I keep trying and I like to think that I'm design-savvy enough to make some kind of career out of my artistic abilities at this point._

"So...you felt more comfortable creating art instead of writing?" Kokoro asked curiously after Renge explained her story.

"No, but...not being able to think of new ideas for stories got frustrating so, it didn't seem doable. But, my writing, that's always been pretty good. Good enough to get me into Nishioka." Renge explained," And while, Nishioka is a great school, I'm still scared of being out there all alone. And I'll be missing a bunch of people here an awful lot, including Nao."

"I know what that's like and with Nao, I feel like in order for you to mend things together with him you need to be perceptive." Kokoro explained," I've been there and I had to watch our relationship fall apart and go from boyfriend and girlfriend to strangers to this, awkward stage. But, it took hard work to get back to where I am with him. And, while I don't feel as close to him as compared to when we were together, I'm still trying because for me, Nao's worth the effort."

"I don't think I've ever told anyone this but...sometimes I feel like I'm the one who made Nao into the cold person he is today." Kokoro stated, with Renge giving her a look of disbelief.

Just before she was about to say something, Kokoro continued to speak,"When Nao and I broke up, it was because we no longer felt that spark between us. After all that we had been through, we just kinda lost those feelings. We both agreed that it would've been better to quit while we could've but, everyone took my side and perceived Nao as some cold-hearted jerk for our break-up. No one asked me how I felt about the break-up and I was too afraid to say anything. It's been so long and I still don't know why I was afraid. Was it because I was scared they were going to turn on me and flock to Nao? I couldn't tell you. But, about the break-up, I already told you Nao has only dated you and me; And, Renge, the same thing happened when you and Nao broke up."

This took Renge by surprise as she simply said," What?"

"You might not have noticed it but, everyone sided with you under the pretense that Nao was reverting to his cold-hearted jerk ways. Even Ushio, his own best friend, sided with you."

Renge tried defending herself by saying," But, that's not my fault-"

"I know, it's...nobody's fault really. Just an error in the universe I guess. But like I said, everyone went rushing to your side. No came to Nao to see how he was holding up. Even I'll admit that I was guilty of not giving Nao some support."

"Kokoro, _he's_ the one who broke up with me. So from a logistic stand-point, one can assume that he doesn't need the support." Renge declared, " And if he really wanted the support he could've-"

"Talk to someone? You and I both know Nao isn't big on talking to begin with. So how is he supposed to talk about his feelings?" Kokoro reasoned.

"He could've talked to me." Renge grumbled as she took one final sip from her cup before it became empty.

Kokoro looked at Renge with sympathy in her eyes, being able to identify the sincerity in Renge's tone," I'm sure he could've. But, maybe, if you showed him how much you cared, you two could fix things. I can't assure you because you can never be too sure with Nao though, I feel like he's missing you."

"You know, I haven't exactly told anyone about wanting to get back together with Nao because I get nervous that they'll get really annoyed with me and say I deserve better or something. But, it's like torture trying to get him out of my mind. I don't get it, we spend a little while together and end things but...it's like I can't move on. I don't want to move on, I like being with Nao. I wanted to get to know him better, I wanted to be the one to light up his day, I wanted to be the one who he felt like he could open up to in an environment where he thought no one would want to listen. I wanted him to know that, I was willing to try."

Renge put her drink down and looked down to the floor saying," It's weird, I thought I was trying too hard when we were together, but I guess I wasn't trying hard enough."

"Don't say that, Renge. Relationships take time and effort from both parties." Kokoro declared," It also requires communication."

Renge looked a bit guilty after hearing Kokoro say that.

Temptasia sat at her throne, staring at the compact mirror as if she was waiting for something to happen. She was sitting there with her hands laced into each other with her head resting on them. Her legs were beginning to fall asleep as she awaited the mirror to say something. Finally, after what felt like hours, the voice in the mirror spoke up.

"So, how'd it go? Did you find her?" Temptasia asked the voice expectantly.

"Yeah, all by myself. I found mother for the both of us. Reincarnated, in such a shameful form I may add. We'll get her after we get the book. How is that task coming along?" The voice asked.

"We're almost there." Temptasia said as Zephora walked into the room," Just give me a few more days."

"You wanted to see me?" Zephora asked slowly.

"Zephora, I have some exciting news to tell you." Temptasia said with a rather wicked grin on her face.

"So, I'll see you on Monday?" Kokoro asked as they walked towards the doors of the mall. Renge nodded and walked out with her, only to stand by the doors as she waited for Kanari to come now.

"If I want to be with him, I need to communicate." Renge said once Kokoro was out of earshot," I need to try harder, I need to show him that somehow he managed to mean more to me than I would've imagined. Yeah that's...nearly impossible but not completely impossible. This is still within reach, I still have a chance. But, right now, this isn't my main priority. I need to try and look for the book and, and save all those people that Temptation's kidnapped!"

Just then, she heard someone screaming from inside and saw a group of people run out from the mall.

"What's going on?" Renge shouted as a group of teens rushed past her.

"The lights are just shut off and everything went pitch black." One girl explained to Renge," They told us to evacuate and said it was some fuse blow-out."

"I don't get how it was pitch black in there when there's windows all over the place plus a skylight." The boy beside her said.

Renge became suspicious after hearing that and walked into the mall, trying to not attract any attention to herself as she did so. When she got inside, she was startled to find that she could see nothing, like the boy had said, because it was so dark in here. It sounded like people were still trying to get out of the mall as they all dashed to nearest exit, some of them bumping into Renge. The deeper Renge got into the mall, the less she heard people clamoring around her. It was getting more and more eerily quiet as she got deeper into the mall. She kept her back against the walls as she walked through the mall and before she knew it, the lights turned back on.

There was, as she expected, nobody in sight. Everyone had evacuated safely and now it appeared that she was the only person left in the mall as of right now. But, she had this unsettling feeling that she wasn't the only here. She couldn't really explain it, but she could just feel the presence of somebody here.

Renge then had an idea and said quietly," As my journey to find myself begins, I call upon my scholar within!"

Lia then appeared and looked around the room nervously, with Renge looking at her in question as she asked," You can feel something like Temptation, like a Delinquous here, right?"

Lia nodded and she led Renge to the where she could feel the presence of the Delinquous coming from. As they ran, Renge took out her pen and transformed.

Eventually, Lia led Cure Literature to the upper level of the mall, in front of an elevator to be exact. Literature looked at the elevator in suspicion as she stood before. It seemed normal for the most part, but even she could feel that that wasn't something right about it.

"You don't think that's the Delinquous, do you?" Literature asked Lia as she continued to stare at the elevator.

Lia nodded and Literature simply questioned," How the hell am I supposed to fight the elevator?"

"Maybe the Delinquous is _in_ the elevator." Lia suggested. Literature narrowed her eyes at her, but decided that probably was the case and pressed the button on the panel beside the elevator. Literature then summoned out her scepter as she waited for the doors of the elevator to open. The doors of the elevator opened and Literature saw a seat with arms and legs glaring towards her.

"A chair? That's it?" Literature asked as she twirled her scepter around as she ran into the elevator," Well, I'll have this done in no time."

"The mall is out of service?" Kanari read aloud with eyebrows raised in disbelief. The sign slapped onto the doors of the mall didn't seem very official, having appearing to have just been written with a permanent marker, but, she hadn't seen anyone exit the mall in over seven minutes. Kanari then reached for her phone in her pocket and looked down to the screen after unlocking it. She had sent Renge a huge mass of texts when she got here and Renge had yet to respond to a single one.

She tried calling Renge and only got her answering machine, finally deciding that it was about time she called for Chiyo and Yugure now. Thankfully, after one call the two of them and arrived at the front of mall in a short amount of time.

"Surprised you came so quickly." Kanari remarked as she looked at Chiyo and Yugure, appearing quite impressed.

"It sounded urgent." Yugure responded as Kanari showed them the little sign posted on the one of the doors of the mall.

"It looks fine, why is it empty?" Yugure asked nervously when the three of them tried peering into the mall through the glass doors.

"That's for us to find out." Kanari said as she held out her pen. The three of them rushed into the mall, transforming as they did so and were stunned to find the mall so empty. It felt so strange to run through a mall that was usually so alive with people for the girls, but finding out what was the cause the lack of people here right now wasn't their necessarily biggest priority.

"Do you think Renge's already here?" History asked as they took a pause from running. Just then, the lights began flickering on and off and the Cures could could hear someone screaming by the elevators.

"We had plans today. Not to mention, that scream sounded like it belonged to Ren." Arithmetic answered with a shrug as the three of them ran towards the direction where the scream had come from. The three of them arrived at the front of the elevator, where they found Literature dueling with the chair Delinquous. She seemed to have been handling things just fine on her own, throwing the chair into the panel beside the elevator and sending a hurl of kicks into it without even noticing the other Cures on stand-by.

"Oh, hey guys!" Literature said as she launched an arrow straight into the Delinquous.

" _That's_ the thing that caused all of this?" History questioned skeptically as Literature continued to fight against it.

"Surprisingly, yeah. But, I can handle it. It isn't putting up too much of a fight anyways." Literature smirked as she held her scepter in front of the Delinquous," Pretty Cure enchantress whirlwind!"

The Delinquous was slammed into the doors of the elevator and the elevator doors opened, though the button hadn't been pressed. The Delinquous stood up again and charged towards Literature. Literature rolled her eyes and just as she was about to jump up, the Delinquous leapt towards her and threw her into the elevator. The Delinquous clung onto her as she tried to exit the elevator, but the doors closed on her.

"W-what just happened?" Science asked as she looked at the elevator warily while Arithmetic pushed the button on the elevator panel impatiently.

"Maybe the chair Delinquous was a decoy..." History wondered quietly as Arithmetic kept pushing the button.

"Well, aren't we clever?" Zephora asked from the upper level, leaning against a rail.

"So what's the real Delinquous, the elevator?" History questioned as the elevator doors opened, much to Arithmetic and Science's surprise. But, Literature and the chair weren't in there.

Zephora said nothing and simply smiled as History spun around and saw that Literature was no longer in the elevator," And where's Literature? What did you do to the elevator?"

"Let's just say it's been...charmed." Zephora said with a rather smug smile on her face.

"Maybe we can get to her by going upstairs and pressing the button there." Science suggested.

Zephora smirked and with a snap of her fingers, a crowd of small Delinquouses appeared before them.

The Cures seemed a little irritated, but began to fight against the group of Delinquouses regardless. They were easily to fight against as their hits were weak, but the fight itself met the girls with a quite a few challenges due to the fact that the little Delinquouses were persistent and because there were so many of them.

They didn't seem to have been made from anything in particular and just looked like humanoids, well, short humanoids. They were admittingly fast and quick-witted, though they tended to attack in groups better than as individuals, as if they were part of a hive mind.

The Delinquouses were relentless, tossing the girls into the walls and even into the fountain at the center of the mall's lower level.

If only we could just, just...group them all together and freeze them so that they won't be able to squirm around." Science grumbled. Arithmetic squinted at her, pointed to herself, then pointed to Science, hoping she would catch on.

"Oh my gosh." Science said in realization as her eyes widened. Arithmetic and Science summoned out their scepters Arithmetic leapt up high, motioning them to follow her. They did as motioned to and ran to her as she led them towards the fountain. She jumped over the fountain and as it shot a spring of water up from it's spout, Science held out the caduceus in front of her and said,

"Pretty Cure, Galactic mirage!"

This time, her attack had been manipulated into shooting out more water from the fountain, rather that out from thin air. In that split second, when all the little Delinquous were getting soaked in the fountain, Arithmetic pointed her scepter before the fountain.

"Pretty Cure, Imperial dendrite!" She yelled, freezing the water inside of the fountain and freezing the Delinquous inside of it in the process.

"Now let's get upstairs." Arithmetic instructed as the three of them ran to the staircase leading to the upstairs floor. Arithmetic pressed the button with much haste but, the elevator doors failed to open. She started pressing it a few more times and eventually began to drill her fingers into the button rapidly as she grew impatient.

"Why isn't it working?" Arithmetic asked as Science pulled her away from the panel gently.

"Maybe you aren't pressing hard enough..." Science suggested with an awkward chuckle as History walked over to the panel to press the button. One firm press. Nothing. Another few presses. Nothing. Another few rapid, angry presses that made History take a deep breath before she lost patience.

"Science, you try." History said as she leaned against the wall beside the panel. Science nodded and did as told. Absolutely nothing, just like before.

"Why aren't the doors opening?" Arithmetic questioned as Science continued to press the button.

"Maybe the elevator was already broken. Let's go back downstairs." Arithmetic declared, not explaining why they were doing this. Arithmetic pressed the button again and the elevator opened, but Literature still wasn't inside.

"Maybe, Literature's not in the elevator anymore?" Science suggested.

"No, Zephora said it was charmed so...maybe the elevator car got duplicated or something, and now Literature's in the Delinquous car rather than the one here."

"So, are you trying to say Literature might be in another dimension?" Science asked anxiously.

"Either that or..." History began, remembering how the elevator doors wouldn't open when they were on the top floor,"...The Delinquous elevator car is _on top_ of this one."

About twenty minutes later, Science found herself with Arithmetic standing on her shoulders, trying to crawl into the access hatch of the elevator, with her sword handy in her bun. Her plan was ingenious; climb into the access hatch, shimmy up the cable and cut an opening through the alleged second car's floor and break Literature free. It may've worked if she and Science could've at least been able to lift her into the access hatch, since Arithmetic was a few inches shy of being able to reach it, even on Science's shoulders. History paid no heed to them as she was messaging someone on her phone and sitting in between the doorway of the elevator.

"Just a little more, hang in there Sci!" Arithmetic gasped as she gritted her teeth, stretching as much as she could. Science's legs were wobbling greatly and just when Arithmetic thought she could've reached it, her hand slipped and she and Science fell onto the ground.

"I'm sorry Arithmetic..." Science moaned as she rubbed her back.

"It's fine, I just wish we had at least tried to control how high we we're able to jump and stuff. That way this would've been easier and I wouldn't have to worry about head-butting an elevator car." Arithmetic said as she rubbed the nape of her neck, before narrowing her eyes at History," You know, you could help out too."

"I _am_ helping." History stated as she waited for the person she was messaging to respond to her.

"You're just on your phone! How is that helping?" Arithmetic scoffed.

"I'm getting some reinforcements." History declared as she kept her gaze to the screen of her phone. At this point, History figured that they wouldn't have been able to get the elevator from upstairs that held Literature, but that didn't mean they couldn't find someone else to open it.

 _"So, are you coming or not?" History texted," You need to come."_

 _"Need to? Or, rather you want me to?" Nao texted back to her._

 _"I don't want to call you here, I don't necessarily want your help. But I'm not calling on my behalf, I'm calling on Renge's."_

 _"Of all people, why me?" Nao texted._

 _"Good question. Why you, the boy who tries to catch as many glimpses of her possible in the halls who is likely the same boy who rather be perceived as cold than lonely and probably cares about Renge more than I think. That boy who might actually be worth a second chance. I would like to think that these assumptions are true and I'm not being as delusional as I think Renge is whenever she looks at you with those big brown eyes filled with hope. Are you that boy?"_

 _"Where are you right now?" Nao asked._

History smirked and gave him the address, exhaling a sigh afterwards.

Nao looked down at his tablet and looked down to his lap nervously, lost in thought.

 _"There were a bunch of people that Sakurami could've contacted. Why did she think that I'd be of any help to her? No doubt it, even if it was through messaging, it seemed like this was urgent. That probably means this has something to do with Renge's alter ego. If I don't go, things might get worse. But if I do, I might somehow make things worse. It's sounds like she thinks I can do something that her team can't. She's probably second guessing herself right now. But...this shouldn't be about whether she thinks I can't save her or that I think I might make things worse when I haven't even tried. Renge's in danger, I've gotta help."_

When Nao got to the mall after taking the bus, he could feel his heart race and his mouth get dry as he looked towards the mall doors.

"This may've been a mistake..." Nao said to himself quietly as he gawked at the doors to the mall," But, I guess I shouldn't turn back now..."

He pushed open the door to the mall cautiously and was quite surprised to find them open as he walked in quietly. He was even more surprised to find that the mall was awfully empty and suspiciously quiet.

"Sakurami said something about going to the elevator on the top floor..." Nao reminded himself as he walked up the out-of-service escalator quietly," _This'll never work. If she can't do it, then what makes her think I can?"_

He began walking through the halls of the upper level, looking around and being mindful of where he walked, making sure he wouldn't draw any unnecessary attention to himself _," If I screw this up, her friends are going to hate me for this."_

So I guess she must be there..." Nao said as he drew out a deep breath, looking towards the elevator coming into view _,"So I guess this is where I find out whether I'll have it in me to save Renge or not..."_

Literature sat on the chair, no longer was it a Delinquous, and looked straight ahead with a vacant look in her eyes, as if she was in a trance. She seemed oddly at peace as voice that seemed to be coming from the elevator spoke to her.

"It's easier to admit defeat. It's easier when you don't put yourself out there, risking things like your life and your happiness. It's easier to give up without even putting in the effort, that way you can spare yourself the pain." The voice crooned.

"You're so right." Literature responded in a calm voice, with a bit of a smirk forming on her lips," There's no harm in doing nothing. Failure is avoidable that way, and you won't have anyone to think little of you, or to be ashamed of you. After all, they would judge you harder for failing rather than not trying at all."

"There's nothing wrong with not trying." The voice stated," Absolutely nothing wrong with it."

"Yes, absolutely nothing wrong with it." Literature agreed in a near blissful voice.

Just then, the door's open and Nao saw Literature sitting on the chair in the elevator, looking at her in surprise as he watched her sit on the chair without a care in the world.

"It's seems like someone uninvited has arrived." The voice in the elevator said, with Literature nodding in agreement.

"It would appear so." Literature commented tonelessly.

"Yup, that's Renge." Nao thought to himself after hearing her voice," Just what's going on here? What's happening? And...Renge, you don't look so good."

"He sickens me. You feel the same, right?" The voice questioned," His bashful voice, that apprehensive look on his face, those strangely bright green eyes."

"I..." Was all Literature could say before the voice continued to talk.

"Though my ears have only heard a couple of words from this one before so far I can tell, his voice belongs to a cold individual, someone who couldn't be bothered to be around others. Or rather, someone who thinks he doesn't deserve to be in the company of others. Despite his looks, he's a fine, cultivated specimen. He's already given up, he no longer cares, because he knows it's pointless to do so."

Nao looked down to the floor of the elevator, bangs shrouding his eyes as he did so.

"For the most part, that is true. But, I don't take pride in the fact that I seem cold." Nao stated, looking up to Literature," I know I'm not good at talking to you and I know it looks like I don't try but, sometimes I doubt myself and wonder if I make the right choice by acting the way I do. And lately, because of you, I've been doubting myself even more. So, Renge please don't listen to them, don't give up here. I don't know what you're fighting for, but it must be something really important if you've been forced to live two lives because of it, so Renge please..."

"...Snap out of and don't give up!" Nao shouted as he walked over to Cure Literature and held the scruff of her dress' shirt. Literature's eyes went wide as she looked at Nao, as if she hadn't even seen him enter the elevator and was just seeing him now.

"Wh-what happened?" Literature asked as Nao took his grip off of her," Oh my gosh, um, you aren't supposed to see me like this. Uh, I mean-!"

"Renge, I've known for a couple of months now." Nao confessed.

"Um, thank you. For, snapping me out of that." Literature confessed as she summoned her scepter. Nao's gaze shifted to the walls of the elevator as he felt for the button panel, unintentionally pressing all the buttons as he did so.

"It was no big deal..." Nao simply said as he took a gulp, the doors opening for them.

The two of them walked out and Literature held the scepter out in front of herself, focusing on her target.

"Pretty Cure, Mage's story!" She shouted.

The insides of the elevator were turned pick and red as Literature chanted,"I'm sorry my friend that they have made you impure, but once I'm done with you you'll be good as new by the power of awe-striking literature!"

"Press the button to close the door! Quick!" Literature yell-whispered to Nao. Nao nodded and did as told. The Delinquous appeared to have been purified and now, it was just the two of them. Before Literature had time to even compose her thoughts, she then remembered something. Something that drove her to getting Nao out of here.

"Maybe we should go now..." Literature suggested as she pushed Nao towards the exit to the mall.

"Even as a magical girl you still can't push me..." Nao observed as Literature continued to push.

"You think I'm actually trying right now?!" Literature hollered between gritted teeth.

"So, um...don't tell anyone about this, ok?" Literature said as she stood at the doors of the mall with Nao.

"I kept your secret for this long, haven't I?" Nao reminded her as he walked out, giving her a single wave before a question crossed his mind," How come you told Kokoro though?"

"Wait what?"

"Never mind." Nao said as he began walking again, causing Literature to get even more suspicious.

"Kokoro knows?!" Literature called out to him, though he refused to acknowledge the Cure clad in red. Literature groaned and shook her head, figuring that she would just deal with it later and went to go find the rest of her team.

"Wow, Renge was so cool back there!" Haku exhaled as Nao continued to walk, deciding that he'd cut through the mall's parking lot and walk all the way home, since it would be a forty-minute walk by foot. Nao said nothing, though he did silently agree with Haku.

"You did great today Nao!" Haku beamed.

"Thank you." Nao responded, just before a certain someone appeared from thin air before him. Nao looked at him with his eyes narrowed and only asking him flatly," Who are you?"

"Go to Renge." Nao whispered to Haku, who did as told without being seen.

Vice slowly walked towards Nao, who cautiously took a few steps back.

"What is it you want with me? Clearly I must be of value to you if you feel the need to abduct in broad daylight. Don't I at least deserve that much? Or do you just not want to waste your breath on the likes of your target?" Nao questioned

"Hallow words are from an exhausted voice." Vice noted before he snapped his fingers, creating a purple haze that encircled around Nao, knocking him unconscious. He started to fall but Vice caught him.

"Interesting eyes." Vice stated before he disappeared with him.

Haku flew at full speed back to the mall in search of Renge with a look of worry written all over his face. When he found Renge, she looked at him with great confusion and all he could do was sputter out,

"Nao's in trouble!"

Renge, who was back in civilian form with the girls at her side, said nothing and urged Haku to lead the way. She motioned the girls to stay put and Haku led her to the parking lot. Vice and Nao were long gone by now and Haku looked quite upset as he looked at the empty lot.

"He was right here and some guy confronted him and then he told me to go to you and then..." Haku trailed off, tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Nao sent you to me because he knew that the man wanted _you_..." Renge said in realization, shock ringing out in her voice," So then, by that logic, that must've been why the others had been taken. But...I still let Nao get kidnapped."


	33. It wasn't supposed to be like this

"How am I supposed to work on the page for the Drama club when pictures from the play haven't been sent to us yet?" Renge groaned as she bashed her head against the table, the computer in front of making that sound you made when you pressed too many buttons on the keyboard," Hanako said she had the pictures on her camera, but she's sick today and now I can't work on it!"

Shinko, who was sitting beside her giggled awkwardly and said to her," Well, maybe you could help me with the layout on my page if you want to work that badly today."

"I'll do it." Renge declared in an exasperated voice as she looked over to Shinko's computer.

"I'm not sure if I should put this one as the biggest picture on the page, or use this one." Shinko explained as she hovered her mouse over the two different sized pictures on the screen. Both pictures were from the basketball tournament from a few months ago and one picture displayed Tsubaki throwing the ball into the net while the other capture Sachi dribbling away from the opposing team. The picture was nice but it inevitably invoked feelings of guilty into Renge as she saw the picture of Tsubaki, who had been missing for weeks now.

"Well, you already have a picture of Tsubaki on the page...but this picture pops out more." Renge stated as she and Shinko looked at the screen.

"Maybe I should make this picture of Tsubaki as the largest one and get rid of this smaller picture of Tsubaki here." Shinko said before she clicked on the window she had open where all the shots from the Basketball tournament were.

"Why are you using a picture of her? Didn't she switch schools?" The boy sitting beside Shinko questioned. His skin was fair and his hair was slightly curly and light brown and his eyes were very big. Renge and Shinko turned their gaze onto the boy and they both arched an eyebrow at him simultaneously.

"Jiro, who the heck switches schools with a month left of the school year?" Shinko asked, holding back on a scoff.

"Well, nobody's seen her in a couple of weeks, so it's the only thing that makes sense." Jiro said.

"I heard something from her sister saying that she shattered her kneecap playing against some other third-years from another school. So, she's apparently stuck at home until it gets better." Shinko explained.

"Does that mean she won't be able to go to grad?" Jiro asked as he looked at the picture of Tsubaki. Shinko minimized the window with Tsubaki's picture and began to look for other pictures from the tournament.

"It's none of our business." Shinko stated neutrally.

"Hey, that's your friend isn't it? Maybe I should use this picture." Shinko mused as she double-clicked one of the pictures, that picture being one Kanari blocking someone from the opposing team.

"Do it." Renge said with a firm nod before Shinko imported the picture onto the page. Renge went back to her work before Shinko called on her again.

"Wow, Renge your pictures came out great!" Shinko gushed, snapping Renge back to her senses as she put her phone away back into her pocket.

"Thanks..." Renge said cautiously, not actually having any idea as to which pictures Shinko was talking about. Shinko and Jiro were looking at her screen, scrolling the page looking at a bunch of pictures. Renge leaned over and realized that they were looking at the graduation portraits.

"It's funny, every time I look at my graduation portraits, I feel old." Renge admitted sheepishly, only to receive flat stares from Shinko and Jiro.

"You _are_ old." Shinko and Jiro said in unison with their eyes narrowed at her.

"How cold." Renge thought to herself, feeling a shiver crawl down her spine as she tried to advert her eyes from their stare," But it's not like you're wrong."

Jiro then got up from his seat to go get something from the other side of the room. When he got back, he had a yearbook from last year in his hands. Shinko and Renge both looked at him suspiciously as he opened the book.

"What are you doing?" Shinko interrogated as Jiro sat down.

"I just wanna look through last year's book for reference." Jiro said in his defense with a shrug. Curiously, the three of them all started to look through the book, starting with the page of middle-schoolers.

"Jiro looked like a frog..." Shinko remarked as they looked at Jiro's yearbook picture from last year. Renge looked over Jiro to see how he would react and was surprised to see him just nod thoughtfully in agreement.

"My picture this year is a lot better." Jiro claimed as he fished for his wallet where his student id card resided in his pocket.

"That's my friend Rin!" Shinko said as she pointed to a pale girl with long brown hair in a picture on the next page.

"They flipped to the first-years already..." Jiro said in surprise as his eye twitched.

"Hm, I know a bunch of these faces, but I can't even put a name to most of them..." Shinko remarked sheepishly," Oh! Isn't that Nao?"

Renge looked over to the picture that Shinko was pointing at. It was indeed Nao and looking at the picture made her feel even worse than looking at the picture of Tsubaki. She shifted her gaze to the floor uncomfortably, feeling a wave of distress coming down on her just from looking at the picture. It brought her back to the reality of things, how she let another person, another friend, fall into the hands of Temptation. For a moment, Shinko and Jiro felt a little distant, mainly because they didn't how bad the whole Tsubaki situation was, and how she had a part in it. It was too much to bear at the moment, and she simply walked out of the room with the teacher's permission to regain composure. Once she was outside of the classroom, she ran at break-neck speed to the washroom and sat in the corner of washroom, feeling tears streaming down her cheeks.

"How long can I keep up with this charade? How many more people will get abducted on my watch?" Renge questioned as she tried drying the tears from her eyes as she took off her glasses.

"Renge?" She heard a voice that sounded a lot like Shinko's say as a figure entered the washroom. From the corner of her eye, Renge couldn't entirely tell who it was initially but after hearing Shinko's voice, she turned to see that it was in fact Shinko standing before her.

"Um, I'm sorry if said something wrong." Shinko apologized as Renge stood up," If you want to talk about it, I'd be more than happy to listen."

Renge pursed her lip to hold back a sigh. She knew she couldn't tell Shinko about the whole Pretty Cure, but, she really didn't want Shinko to worry about her either. Telling her it was nothing probably wasn't going to suffice after Shinko had just witnessed her crying here.

"I'm a little nervous about graduating and I'm not ready to leave all of this behind." Renge explained after drying her eyes again," I don't think I'm ready for things to change."

"It might sound a little strange coming from me but...I feel the same way." Shinko replied with a sympathetic smile on her face," Being a first-year wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. I made a bunch of new friends, I had a lot of fun in class, I just wish it could be like this for a little longer. It was a good year."

Renge stared at her blankly before snapping back to her senses," Yeah, I guess for the most part...it was a good year."

After club, Renge rummaged through her bag, causing Haku to fly out from it as she pulled out a book. And then another, and then another, totaling in three books that she couldn't help but look at sheepishly as she walked to the teacher's lounge.

"Maybe I could keep one of these..." Renge thought aloud, with Haku looking at her with a mildly disapproving look on his face," Kitaouji would never notice but, that wouldn't be right."

Renge held all three books in her arms and continued her walk to the teacher's lounge, with Haku sitting on her shoulder behind her hair. When she approached the teacher's lounge, she knocked on the door, with slight hesitance upon picturing a scenario that would involve her having to speak with a teacher she had never even seen before. Just before she began panicking however, her own homeroom, Ms Yamamoto opened the door for her.

"Kotori, do you need something?" Ms Yamamoto asked as she opened the door, offering her to come in.

Renge nodded her head as she asked," Is Ms Kitaouji here?"

Ms Yamamoto pointed to a table near the windows where Renge's blonde teacher sat typing away dexterously on a laptop. Renge walked over to her teacher and when her teacher saw someone approaching her from the corner of her eye, she stopped typing and looked to see who was coming towards her. She smiled when she saw it was Renge.

"Are those books for me, Renge?" Ms Kitaouji asked as she pointed to the small collection of books in her hands.

Renge nodded and placed the books on the table beside her," Sorry about holding onto them for so long. Some of them were quite interesting. By the way, thanks for writing that letter of reference for me."

"You're welcome, it was no problem at all! But I must say, you didn't originally strike as a teaching type of girl. But, that one project we did last semester where I had you guys teach the class to a new skill, I was quite blown away with your project. It was concise and you developed it so that anyone would be to understand it. While you may've gotten a little quiet at times I still think you did quite well." Ms Kitaouji praised," Plus, it may sound a little odd, but I think you secretly have some leadership skills inside of you. "

They talked for a few more moments before Renge left.

When Renge got home later, she simply walked up to her room quietly, changed out of her uniform and tied her hair into a bun with two long strands hanging from either side of her face. She then picked up her bag from where she left it, and walked out of her room, with Renny and Haku following her. Renge went down the stairs of her house, clad in nothing but a pair of dark blue high-waisted skinny jeans, a bright pink sleeveless button-up shirt and a beige bomber jacket. She grabbed her wallet from out of her bag and before she left her house she simply said,

"I'm going out."

Her voice was awfully quiet and if Sanae wasn't as worried as she was about Renge, she may've not even heard her. But, the concern she had for Renge was enough to make her pause her and Hikaru's favourite tv show for her to look out the window to see where Renge was going.

Renge walked straight ahead with her fingers laced behind her head and Renny and Haku looking at her nervously. She didn't appear to have any care of where she was going and though they were on the main road right now, Renny and Haku feared that would get lost at this rate. Renge just kept walking in the same direction for five minutes until she reached a convenience store.

At the convenience store, she purchased a small cream-soda slushie and a pack of strawberry pocky. When she exited the store, she walked back in the direction of her house which put Renny and Haku at ease momentarily. When she reacher the head of the street where she was supposed to turn to head home, she went the opposite direction.

"R-renge, where are you going?" Haku asked as Renge continued to walk.

"You'll see." Renge answered tonelessly as she sipped on her slushie.

Back at Renge's house, when Sanae was finished watching her show, Topher and Xan spied on her at the top of the staircase, seeing her talk to someone on the phone.

"Renge? Um, she seems a little...stressed as of lately." Sanae answered into the phone," It's just, she hasn't been talking as much as she used to and she's been going out of the house a lot as of lately. She comes before nightfall of course but, she doesn't say where she's going. I guess this whole graduating thing is getting to her."

Topher and Xan looked at her in dismay. Xan looked up to Topher, who remained completely silent as he watched Sanae speak about Renge on the phone. Maybe ignorance really was bliss. Had she known what Renge had been dealing with...Sanae's mind would likely not have been able to even define how bleak it was. But, maybe the graduating thing was playing a hand in why Renge had been so drawn in lately. Before Topher could even hear anymore of what Sanae had to say, Hikaru found Topher and Xan sitting at the head of the staircase. Xan looked freaked out, but Topher remained stagnant. Hikaru of course didn't expect them being at the head of the staircase to be their own doing of course.

"First she's goes out without telling us where she's going and now she just leaves her stuffed animals at the staircase?" Hikaru said as he looked at the two birds, his gaze more on Topher though as he took them back to her room," Makes me hope third year never comes."

Renny and Haku stared at Renge, the former beginning to think back to their last meeting as he watched Renge with concern in his eyes.

 _"For your last battle, you'll be needing these." Renny declared as he held out a pink, yellow and white striped key with a winged heart on top out to the girls. The girls looked at it in awe as Renge held it to the light._

 _"So, we all have to insert this key into our scepters?" Renge inquired as she looked over to Renny._

 _"No, only you and Chiyo have to." Renny answered looking towards his feet nervously._

 _"But don't we get a key?" Yugure asked as she pointed towards herself and Kanari. Topher simply nodded a single nod, but didn't look at the two of them._

 _"Then where is it?" Kanari questioned with her eyes narrowed at Topher._

 _"I don't have it." Topher responded flatly with a shrug. Yugure seemed rather confused while Kanari appeared to a little annoyed._

 _"Topher, you had one job!" Kanari exasperated before Topher claimed in his defense,_

 _"I never got it! Headmistress gave Renny that key, but she said she didn't have the one for you two!"_

 _"Then where it could be?" Yugure asked him as her eyes darted towards Kanari and the rest of the group._

 _Renge felt everyone's gaze fall to her, as if she had the answer before she declared," We'll find it in time before the last battle, don't worry."_

Ever since then, the girls had been seeming less and less willing to fight against Temptation, after realizing what could happen if they couldn't win. To Renny, it seemed like an unspoken disbandement and he had yet to convince Renge to keep fighting.

Renge sat on a bench in a playground nearby to her house, perched with some of her homework in her lap. She had her pencil case on one side of herself and her slushie and pocky on the other. The pack of pocky had been half eaten now and the sheet in front of Renge was almost entirely full of words. She was just a quarter shy at this point, now on her final question of the worksheet.

Renge thought back to class that day, before the whole thing of Nao's abduction had happened, and when she received the little booklet that came with these questions. The booklet was compiled of a short story and few response questions and Kitaouji never really assigned a due date for the assignment as of yet. She felt goose bumps crawl down her spine as she remembered being called on to read the story out loud in class.

 _"Kotori! Can you read now?" Miss Kitaouji asked as she picked out Renge's name from a tin can._

 _Renge's heart skipped a beat and hesitantly, she stood up and read from the section one of her classmates left off at._

 _"The hard worker sought after Robin for many, many weeks after Robin's disappearance. The hard worker would search high and low, near and far for Robin and the hard- worker searched desperately. When not looking for Robin, the hard worker was constantly asking themselves what they did wrong in order to make Robin go away. Soon, the hard worker began to tell their friends all about Robin, in hopes that their friends may've seen them. No one had ever seen Robin unfortunately, so the hard worker was left to try and win back Robin with presents. The hard worker showered the tree that they and Robin would sit at with many presents, but there was no sign of Robin and with the days of spring drawing to an end to bring summer in, the hard worker was beginning to lose hope in finding Robin. The hard worker was forced to leave town one month later, in need of a new town to work in and was very upset to know that they would never see Robin again. On the day before the hard worker left the town, they went back to the tree though they knew that there wasn't any chance of Robin being there if Robin hadn't been seen in months. But, when the hard worker went to the tree, they found a tiny brown bird with a red chest sitting on one of the branches. The hard worker stared speechlessly at the bird while the bird stared back at the hard worker, offering nothing more but a single chirp as a response." Renge read out, her mouth feeling quite dry and she slumped back into her seat._

The assignment was to figure out what the Robin was a metaphor for. Renge thought of some things before, but nothing seemed to make to much sense in correlation to the story. Normally, an assignment like this wouldn't have taken her too long, but because the metaphor was a little tricky, she was having difficulty staying on task. She took another stick of pocky and put it in her mouth, with most of it poking out from there. The more she tried thinking about what the Robin was a metaphor for, the less interested she became in finishing the assignment.

But just then, it came to her, like an epiphany. She quickly wrote down her answer on her page in fear of forgetting it suddenly and took a few deep breaths as she looked at the answer she had written.

"The Robin is a metaphor for someone an individual has loved very much but can't be with." Renge read aloud, taking her eyes away from the paper and unintentionally looking over to Haku. Haku shared his eye colour with Nao and looking into his big eyes made Renge's heart feel like breaking.

Haku then sputtered, "I'm sorry if I-!"

"No, no don't be. It's my fault for getting all emotional all of a sudden." Renge declared," I know it's not easy for you to return back inside Nao because none of us are sure of where he is, so don't be sorry for just being here."

"Even if we knew, it would be dangerous if he got sent back into Nao." Renny commented gravely," It might spell trouble for us, depending on whatever Temptation is plotting."

"Maybe, we really should call it quits." Renge suggested, alarming Renny greatly.

"What?! Why? You've come this far, why quit now?" Renny questioned in pure distress.

"To save ourselves and everyone else we care about?" Renge responded in a somewhat exhausted tone with a slight scoff," Yeah, we made it this far, but at what cost? Who's to say that we're going to win? Everyone in Univer is depending on us, what if we let them down? What if we lose? We can't believe that we're going to save the world just because we've save the day before. Anything can happen at this point."

Renny looked at her, understanding where she was coming from but unable to think of something to say. He looked quite to Renge, so immediately, she tried to think of something else to say.

"We can just end all this if we find the book." Renge stated," Why is it taking all of us so long? Isn't there something that attracts it? Something to reel it in for us to take it?"

"It doesn't make sense in saying this but, the Book is attracted to members of the royal family. But, people of the Headmistress' family haven't lived in this world for over centuries now." Renny explained.

"And the Headmistress can't even come to the human world because she's too busy protecting Univer Kingdom." Renge stated.

"What's _left_ of Univer Kingdom." Renny corrected, causing Renge turn her head and look at him suspiciously.

"What do you mean what's left of Univer Kingdom?" Renge asked.

"Ever since the book's disappearance, Univer had slowly been disappearing, island by island. It's gotten so bad that the mainland is slowly disappearing. Renge, why do you think all those civilians had to be sent to the human world in the first place?" Renny questioned, in a near angered tone.

Renge's eyes widened greatly, having not realized this up until now. She exhaled a deep breath and looked to Renny apologetically.

"I'm sorry. I was thinking too much of what I had to lose to consider how much you've already lost." Renge apologized, putting Renny onto her lap," It's just...Renny, I'm scared. I'm scared because I don't know what's going to happen if we lose. I'm scared of the idea of living with the regret of losing for the rest of my life, I'm scared that my best won't be enough-"

"-Renge, I know what that feels like. That fear that comes from not knowing. It's a fear that everyone in Univer shares together." Renny interrupted," Sometimes, that fear drives us away from things and then we don't get those things done. And then it makes if suffer greatly, probably greater than if we were to step into the unknown because by then we wonder if we actually did stand a chance. We don't like the idea of not knowing but this time, I think stepping into the unknown is the best thing we can do, if it means taking a chance to restore things to the way they used to be."

"You're right. We need to at least try before counting ourselves out." Renge declared.

Meanwhile, Temptasia sat at her throne, looking deep into the compact mirror with a nervous, near fearful look in her eye.

"So, she's still there with you? And...she's still asleep?" Temptasia asked the compact mirror cautiously.

"Yes, and she has yet to show any signs of waking up." The voice in the compact mirror said flatly.

"Ugh, that harlot! And you can't wake her up?" Temptasia questioned the voice.

"Do you think we'd be in this predicament if I could?" The voice asked her, her mind going back to the time where she had fulfilled the task.

 _In the Univer Kingdom, well what was left of it, a woman was currently sitting by a small pool of water in a dark cave. The woman was petite, being maybe five foot one, or two, and her hair was a dark blue that came to her waist. She wore a kimono that had been wrinkled greatly, and reached her thighs; though it was hard to tell whether this was the original length of the kimono or not with all the tears in it at the ends. The woman was barefoot and sat cross-legged for a long time, with her eyes closed as she took deep breaths. It was dead-quiet in the cave and finally after one last deep breath, the woman opened her eyes, revealing their colour to be a pale lilac._

 _The woman seemed young, but eyes made her young appearance seem wise beyond years. Her eyes were likely a better clue to what her age may've been, rather than her size. She looked at the pond before her and dipped her finger into it, stroking the water until an image appeared. She kept her finger within the water, knowing that it wasn't the pond that was the source of this image appearing._

 _She saw horrendous things, from the book of Omnipotence getting stolen to all the citizens from Univer Kingdom having to flee to the human world. She bit her lip, viewing these images with an apprehensive look in her eye. She saw the Headmistress looking through old documents relentlessly, seeming quite exhausted, and she saw the book in Temptasia's hands, with Vice creating a barrier to protect her as she tried to destroy the book._

 _Deciding she had seen enough, she pulled her finger out from the pond and suddenly felt a shiver crawl down her spine. She looked around the room, her lilac eyes now very wide, before she heard footsteps coming her way. She then waved her over the pond, but before her hand fully waved over the pond, the voice belonging to the figure approaching her said,_

 _"It's too late for that."_

 _It was too dark in this cave for the woman to see who it was that had found her, but, she recognized her voice easily._

 _The woman said absolutely nothing as she backed up against the wall of the cave defensively while the figure continued to walk towards her._

 _"Goodness dear, you look like haven't slept in months Ayuki." The figure remarked as a smile appeared onto their face. Their voice was that of a honeyed one which sounded quite feminine and almost pleasant, if it wasn't for that painfully clear wicked undertone residing in their voice._

 _"Months? No. Weeks, maybe." Ayuki responded," I wonder why..."_

 _The figure then sent a flaming violet and magenta orb towards Ayuki and she simply ducked, running towards the path where the figure came from._

 _"What do you think you're doing?" The figure shouted as they formed another pair of flaming orbs in their hands," You and I both know you couldn't escape like this!"_

 _Ayuki continue to try and run from the figure, even though she knew her words were true. She never possessed super human speed or strength; she barely had average person speed and strength._

 _"You've been hiding here for quite a while now haven't you?" The figure questioned as they continued to blast orbs towards her," Why is that?"_

 _Ayuki stopped running from the figure for a moment and said," Because, I knew you two were going to come for the book, and if you were coming for the book that would mean that you would be needing me."_

 _The figure threw another orb at Ayuki and it appeared as if it was going to hit her, but it barely missed the kimono-clad woman," I may be weak, but I'm the one thing that's keeping Univer Kingdom together at this point because of you and I won't let you do as you please any longer."_

 _Ayuki started walking up to the figure, whose powers to launch orbs seemed to be malfunctioning as they looked at Ayuki frantically._

 _"You two will end this juvenile revolt and will banished from Univer Kingdom for the rest of your lives for the discourse you've created." Ayuki decreed sternly as she continued to walk towards the figure._

 _The figure looked down, and once Ayuki was close enough, they created another orb and sent Ayuki flying to the far end of the cave. Ayuki shrieked as she collided with the wall feeling the orb circulate through her body as it dissipated into her. Ayuki tried moving but, it pained her to much to do so as she could barely lift her body to stand up. The figure started walking to her now and Ayuki shouted,_

 _"Fine, try and claim your victory with me in your hands. I doubt you'd stand a chance!" Ayuki shouted as the figure continued to walk towards her," The Pretty Cure will stop you, they've gotten this far, haven't they?"_

 _The figure looked at Ayuki in revulsion as they walked towards Ayuki as she tried to focus, resorting to her Plan B as she knew this would've been the end of the road for now._

 _The orbs missed again but Ayuki fell backwards, slumping down against the wall behind herself, now unconscious._

 _"What has she done?" The figure asked as they tossed up one of the orbs up in the air as if it were a ball. They walked over to Ayuki and found that she was asleep. If this was anyone else they were chasing down, this wouldn't have been a problem at all. But because it was Ayuki, who would typically sleep for fourteen hours a day..._

 _The figure groaned as they knelt down to Ayuki, looking her now serene face, which had been distorted into pure and absolute distress a few moments ago thanks to them. The figure gingerly put a finger to Ayuki's hand, finding that she was so cold now she could've been mistaken for dead._

 _"She put herself into one of her deep sleeps, thinking I wouldn't be able to wake her up." The figure grumbled as they shook Ayuki violently to attempt to wake her up, with no avail," It appears we've been underestimated by the royal family of Univer Kingdom, nothing new here."_

 _And with that, the figure disappeared with Ayuki on their back._

"She'll awake soon enough, she has to." The voice reassured to Temptasia, who appeared to be simmering down now.

"Um, Topher, where are you going?" Xan asked as Topher perched atop of Renge's windowsill, looking as if he was about to take flight.

"I'm going to check on Arithmetic. Stay in the room." Topher demanded before he flew out. Xan was just about to say something right as Topher left Renge's room. Xan stared at the windowsill with a worried look on his face as Topher came out of view.

Kanari sat atop her bed, taking in deep breaths as she looked into her pillow with a vacant look in her eye. She looked as if she had been sitting in that position for hours, just staring into her pillow. She felt her insides writhe with guilt as gripped the ends of the pillow angrily, sitting up straight and wrapping her arms and legs around the pillow. She rested her head on the pillow as she started to brood even more.

"Arithmetic." Topher called as he flew into Kanari's window, the blonde not even responding to him as he arrived in her room. Kanari just stared into her pillow as she kept quiet, it was hard to tell whether or not she noticed Topher fly into her room. That look in her eye, it felt strange seeing such sadness in Kanari's eyes for Topher. It wasn't like the look she had when she pretended she was hurt or offended or something. But then again, that was pretend. Topher then wondered for a moment if he had ever seen Kanari so upset. He then remembered that one time where he had to bandage her up after she hurt herself after trying to make plans with her old friend Miki. Though he saw for only a moment that one time, he was reminded of it as he looked to Kanari again.

"I wish this didn't happen." Kanari said, though it seemed like this statement wasn't directed to Topher. It seemed more like she was talking to herself; but still, Topher responded.

"None of us wish this happened, but we gotta fix things you that-"

"-I'm not just talking about those abductions, I'm talking about the book getting stolen and becoming a Pretty Cure." Kanari interrupted flatly," God, I wish I never even knew about it in the first place. Because now, I know things about myself that I wish I didn't know."

"Like what?" Topher questioned curiously.

"Every time I act on my emotions, something bad ends up happening." Kanari answered in a voice that was so bitter that Topher wouldn't have been able to identify it as hers if he wasn't looking right at her.

Topher then claimed almost instantly," That's not true-!"

"Shall I remind you of the time when I got rejected by someone I called my best friend at one point and had to watch her lose her Inner Scholar? What about that other time when I actually thought I could play as well as the other girls on the basketball team after a weeks, only to sprain my wrist within two minutes of the game? And then there's that day with Tsubaki, where I could've just have been supportive and not do anything stupid like offer to be her grad date." Kanari listed off angrily.

Topher simply looked at her in disbelief and disgust briefly before he said," You know, I was surprised when I heard you offered to be Tsubaki's date. But, I was even more surprised and even a little angered to know that you didn't at least stay to hear what her response would be."

"I guess if I did that, we might not even be in this predicament," Kanari mused in a surly tone," But either way, it's already happened. And it's all because of me."

Kanari then threw her pillow across the room and curled up into herself, saying," I'd rather be a robot."

"Don't say that." Topher pleaded.

"Why not?"

"Because, even if robots don't have to feel things like grief and regret, they also don't get to feel things pride and joy. Robots may not be able to make mistakes, but...I think it's better that we as humans get to." Topher expressed," That way we can learn from our errors from the past. We can grow from our experiences."

"Besides, it's not like all of the emotion-based decisions you've made turned out to be bad ones, right?" Topher said as him and Kanari could hear Ando laughing quite loudly in the room beside him with Blake barking.

Kanari giggled a little as she heard the sound of Ando laughing at Blake," I guess you might have a point. But, I've been wondering...how's an emotionally-driven girl and her team going to save the world at this rate?"

Topher was just about to say something when Renge bursted into Kanari's room with Renny on one of her shoulders and Haku on the other.

"Kanari, I need to tell you something!" Renge gasped out," Look, I know things have been looking really, really, r _eally_ bleak and I know it's probably been taking as much of a toll on you as it has on me but, you need to know, without you, without any of us, Univer kingdom and our world can't stand a chance! I know it's been hard and I know you've been hurting so, please, even if it seems impossible, please try and remember that we've yet to it be so, so...please don't quit on us!"

Kanari just sat there with her mouth agape as she tried formulating a coherent sentence. Topher then smirked and looked over to Kanari.  
"She's right; even if victory doesn't seem probable to you; It's definite that it won't happen if you guys don't try." Topher stated.

"But..." Kanari began as she glanced over to Renge,"...I never said anything about quitting."

Renge looked at her with an expression of relief on her face, her eyes have a much less tense look to them as she threw her arms around Kanari for a hug.

"This is our last week before graduation, so we need to get Chiyo and Yugure on board as soon as possible. They've been having it hard too and we need to let them know we're here for them and that we can't do this without them either." Renge declared, with Kanari nodding in approval.

Chiyo rubbed her face harshly as she sat down for in her manager's little office. Her manager had gone out to help a new employee with an order she hadn't done before and told Chiyo to wait in here so she could have a brief word with her. Chiyo rested her head on her fist as she waited impatiently for her manager to come back in. The wait was torment, though she already knew why she had been called in. She had been late to work for three shifts in a row and she had shoddy excuses as to why she was late. The thought of getting fired for her tardiness tied knots in her stomach and what made her even more upset was knowing that she couldn't tell her manager that her reason for being late was because she was too busy saving others from Temptation.

Crashing Chiyo's train of thought was the door opening again as she immediately cocked her head over to the door as she heard the it's quiet, near inaudible creak. Chiyo saw her manager, Fu, step back into the office with a rather stern look on her face. Chiyo adverted her gaze from Fu as she walked over to the chair at the other side of the desk.

"Chiyo, this is your third time showing up late for work." Fu stated, not even reaching the seat yet as she spoke. Chiyo figured that was to be expected of Fu though, waste as little of her own time as possible so she can either fire Chiyo or send her back to the cash register.

Chiyo looked Fu straight in the eyes and simply said," I know and I'm aware of the fact that my reasons for being late haven't been very reasonable ones. But, if you'd be so kind as to overlook these like the understanding, level-headed manager you are, I swear this won't happen again."

"You said for the first late shift that you were running late because of traffic, which is understandable, but, you never specified a reason for the last two." Fu pointed out neutrally.

Chiyo's gaze fell to her lap, again she wasn't sure of what she could've said. Traffic was going to sound like a lie after this build-up and she couldn't think of anything better so she simply said,

"Family issues."

Fu didn't say anything for a few painfully long moments and shifted her gaze over to a stack of pages on her desk, simply saying," Try not to let this happen again and get back to the register."

"Understood." Chiyo complied as she stood up and walked out of Fu's office.

During that entire shift, as she served customers and took their orders, her mind was constantly falling back to the events that transpired over the last few weeks, along with the article from a newspaper she read from a magazine as she was walking into the mall for work today; her reason for being late this time.

"Sakurami Yoshino MIA? Details on Page 4!" The headline had read. Making sure nobody was looking at her, she picked it up and flipped to page four. The article, though full of content, was vague, considering they themselves had no idea where Yoshino was and couldn't find any sources regarding her whereabouts. She remembered her dad getting five calls the other night from reporters asking where she was and by the fifth call, he shouted that he didn't know where she was and hung up seconds later.

After her shift, she sat on the bench outside of the parlour and drew in a large sigh. The more she thought about the incident, the more it hurt her to know that she was the one to blame for all of this. How could she let a thing like this happen? Why did she think that risking her own life meant that the lives of her loved ones would never be in danger?

"How could I ever let myself think I would be able make sure my two lives wouldn't mix together?" Chiyo asked herself quietly," And, if I'm not strong enough to defeat Temptation, I could have everything taken away from me. Much worse could happen but...it feels like the worst has already come."

 _"What's with me? I'm never like this. Why do I feel so helpless, why does it feel like I can't do anything despite my efforts now? "_ Chiyo thought to herself as she hung her head _," This is all because I let myself sit and watch as my own mom got taken away by the enemy. I feel like such an idiot."_

Just then, Chiyo heard the sound of slurping from a straw and looked up, seeing Renge and Kanari, the latter holding a near empty cup of frozen hot chocolate in her hands. The birds were in their hands and they all looked to her with concern and Renge said,

"Well, I'm glad we were able to find you. Anyways, Chiyo, I know I said this already but, I'm so sorry for holding you back when your mom got abducted. That was stupid of me and I shouldn't have done it."

"You can apologize a million times, but it won't bring her back." Chiyo declared sourly.

"No, but, facing Temptation one last time might do the trick." Renge suggested calmly.

"What if we somehow lose? What then? Are we supposed to live with the guilt? Or just let it gnaw at us from the inside out? It'll be a lot more than just four people falling into the hands of Temptation if we don't win. And that'll be all on us, we even can't guarantee that we can save one person, let alone defeat Temptation. You and I both know we haven't likely seen them in weeks for a very good reason. They're getting stronger and who knows if we'll be strong enough to put a stop to them?" Chiyo questioned.

"No one knows." Xan said to her," But the real risk is not doing anything."

Chiyo stared at Xan for a few moments and Renge then said," He's right. We need to give it our best shot and, I know that the thought of us losing is frightening but, we still need to try because if we try, we'll at least then have a chance of winning. We can't win if we do nothing, and we can't win if we aren't united as a team. So...what do you say?"

"Well, we have come this far." Chiyo responded with slight hesitance, though Renge and Kanari high-fived each other upon hearing Chiyo's response.

"Now we just have one girl left." Kanari said with a grin," And convincing her should be a cinch."

"But...we really don't have a lot of time left. It took us forever to find Chiyo, who was probably avoiding us, and Yugure hasn't even responded to any of my texts or calls." Renge stated," Today's Thursday and the last day of classes is tomorrow, so we need to try and find her as early as possible on Friday."

That night, at Yugure's home, Yugure sat on her bed, looking at the ceiling as she held a throw pillow against her chest. The quiet was unsettling to Yugure as she looked at the ceiling, nightfall having yet to come and the sun setting at a rather slow rate. At the corner of her room was a brand-new suitcase with a strong 'new' scent that Yugure could smell every time she walked close to it. The suitcase was full of clothes and other things she would need for her move into her dorm. Lucky for her, her parents offered to pay for it when they found out, under the condition that she would work full-time over the summer to pay them back. Things that used to feel so comfortably far away were closing in on her, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Things have gotten out of hand." Yugure said to herself as she raised herself up, thinking about Minato," I feel useless just sitting here, doing nothing but thinking of what else could've happened to him."

"Is it really worth it to fight back when it feels like we no longer know what we're up against?" Yugure asked aloud nervously, her gaze suddenly falling to the pendulum necklace on her side-table. Slowly, she reached over and picked it up, holding it close to her chest as she stroked the point of it.  
"I want to see so badly right now, I don't want to be faced with the reality of things right now. All I want at this moment is to just live in another world, where Minato is safe and to be in your arms. But..."

She gripped the pendant of the necklace tighter, the point of it grazing the inside of her palm.

"...You've been different as of lately. A little more panicked and apprehensive, like you think the end is near. Seeing you might just serve as a reminder that there are people that we need to save, but...is just believing that we can save them going to cut it?"

Yugure then decided to go onto her phone and on a messaging app she hadn't used in months to try and take her mind off of things. When she went on, she saw she had received quite a few messages within the last couple of months. Some of them from classmates who were asking her about deadlines for projects, others from relatives who wanted to seeing how things were going. But, there was one message that caught Yugure's eye in an instant.

" _Hey, Yugure, how are things going? We haven't really talked in a few months now which I still find really strange considering we used to everyday. I hope you're having a good year so far, considering it is your last year of high-school. I'm not going to lie, it's been hard to get accustomed to some things here, but bit by bit, I'm adjusting and I'm glad I'm here. I just hope you can come to Yozora with me next year. It's really nice here and it might sound strange but, I feel at home here. It's a strange sense of belonging but it makes me feel at ease and confident. It feels like things are only going to get better from here, it feels good knowing I made the right choice. It'd be nice if you were able to be here too, but, things can change, I understand, so don't feel pressured to. In fact, you're ever-changing, always have always will be. I loved that about you so very much. I loved how you were always willing to try new things and express yourself in many different ways. Now, it appears you've settled down a little, not as bold yet, still as unique as ever. You're amazing, you know that? You truly are, Princess. I hope you can make those big dreams of yours come true, you deserve it. Anyways, I hope the rest of your year goes well, take care. From Minato."_

Yugure looked down at her phone, eyes wide and becoming glossy as she held back tears. She shook her head and shut her phone off.

"What was I thinking? How could I have been so selfish, only worrying about what would happen to me if we lost. This isn't about just me anymore. Now...Minato, along with innocent others have been involved and they have their own lives ahead of them. I can't back down without a fight, Minato doesn't deserve that. We need to save him along with everyone else and find the book." Yugure declared.

Yugure looked over to the little calendar laying on her side table, walking up to it and inspecting it to see what day it would be tomorrow.

"The last day of school is tomorrow. The thought is quite unsettling, but, the sinking feeling that something bad is going to happen is even worse." Yugure said grimly," I've got to find the girls tomorrow and tell them I'm in."

She then looked towards the compact mirror on her side-table she had taken from that store a few months ago with an unsure look on her face. The mirror hadn't spoken to her ever since that last time and it made Yugure wonder if she ever heard a voice from it in the first place. She then took a deep breath and decided to take it with her tomorrow, just in case of anything.

The next morning, Shinko could be seen standing in front of the book-store, Shu's Books and More. She looked a little worried as she turned both ways, scoping out the area for a certain car. After a few solid moments of seeing nothing in sight, she sighed as she leaned against the door.

"Koji said he'd pick me up for school today." Shinko grumbled as she rolled up the sleeves of her cardigan," It's not even nine yet and I'm already hot. She sighed and looked towards the inside of the store through the glass door.

"Wish I could try and read my new book now. Though I doubt I'd be able to without a magnifying glass with the text being so small." Shinko scoffed as she tugged on the door a little, surprised to find that the store was open.

"But, they don't open until nine..." Shinko said to herself," Maybe that maintenance repair guy is coming today to fix the wall."

She looked both ways to make sure that no one was looking as she crept into the store. Shinko sighed in relief as she basked in the crisp, cool temperature of the store, being more than thankful that the door was open. She then looked around to see if anyone was around. With seemingly not a single soul in sight, Shinko stealthily inched to the cash register in search of a magnifying glass.

"Sometimes my uncle keeps a magnifying glass here because the barcodes won't work and then he's got to punch the numbers in manually..." Shinko thought to herself as she she looked under the counter in a little shelf. She perked up after seeing the magnifying glass in the corner of the shelf.

"Found ya!" She cheered as she removed it from the shelf, before hearing what sounded like her uncle and some other people coming towards her.

"Crap, I need to get out of here!" Shinko whispered as her eyes darted to the back-door of the store, the door that was closest to her right now. In an instant, Shinko ran towards the door and managed to leave without anyone seeing her. She heaved in large breaths as she leaned against the door before sitting down on the front step.

"Maybe I'll just read a page right now and then go back to the meeting spot." Shinko said to herself as she took out a massive book from her backpack. It was mahogany and leather bound, and it weighed a ton in Shinko's bag which confused her as she had carried around larger books that were lighter than this one.

"The Book of Omnipotence..." Shinko read aloud for what felt like the hundredth time since she had obtained," Finally, after finding this thing in the store, I can read it now."

She felt her heart begin to accelerate inexplicably as she lifted up the cover of the book, her palms getting clammy as they came in contact with the cover. Just then, Shinko felt a figure blocking out the sun that was previously beaming down on her and nervously, she looked up.

Her throat closed as her gaze fell to the menacing figure,Vice, before her, who was glaring down at her silently. Shinko tried to stammer out a sentence, but she just couldn't as she kept her gaze on him, inching father away from him and closer to the door. Shinko didn't even know who this guy was and yet, she could just tell that he was bad news, but at the same time, he felt as if she had known him from somewhere. But the fear was greater than the familiarity.

"Wha...what do you want?" Shinko asked as she held the book closer to her chest, her clutch now a death-grip.

Vice didn't say a word and kept staring at the book in Shinko's hands. Soon, Shinko took notice of the fact that he was eyeing the book and held it even closer to herself as if she was letting the book protect her.

"D-do you want this?" Shinko questioned, feeling uncertain about whether or not she was willing to relinquish the book to Vice if that was what he was here for,"You can have it, just don't hurt me, or this store. Please."

Shinko unwillingly held out the book to Vice, appearing to have done what he wanted as she looked at him unsurely. Shinko took a large gulp before she let the book leave her hands. When Vice took the book, he looked at Shinko for a brief moment, a look of pity in his eyes before he vanished.

Vice reappeared at the school yard of Seinori underneath a tree where someone was awaiting his arrival on the other side of the tree. At the opposite side of the tree appeared to be Nao, his head hung when he saw a fraction of Vice's shadow from behind the tree.

"Are you ready?" Vice asked him.

He raised his head, the boy looking just Nao except for one thing; instead his eyes being green, they were topaz. He pushed up his glasses and looked towards the other side of the tree without turning to face Vice.

"This won't work." He simply responded, his voice sounding nothing like Nao's but rather, like a certain denizen of Temptation.

Vice then conjured up what resembled a little flying saucer with four balls in five compartments, the one above the center compartment being empty. The smaller three compartments held the Inner Scholars of the ones he was able to abduct and the one in the center carried half of the accumulated power from the Delinquouses.

"Failure is not an option." Vice declared as students started walking towards the school, causing him to decide it'd be better to disappear right now so he wouldn't draw any attention to himself.

"First thing we're doing today is finding Yugure and telling her she needs to stay on board with us." Renge stated with Chiyo and Kanari who were standing on either side of her nodding in agreement," Then, we need to prepare ourselves because I don't know about you but...I feel like our final battle is coming close."

"I can it feel it too..." Haku commented from on top of Renge's shoulder.

"Hey, there she is!" Kanari shouted as they saw Yugure from the other side of the road, walking towards the school. The girls started running to her and once Yugure saw them, she started running to the group too.

"Guys I have to tell you something!" Yugure blurted out when they came close enough," I'm so sorry for not responding to any of your guys' texts but I want you to know, I'm going to fight with you guys in our last battle!"

Renge hugged Yugure as Kanari pumped a fist in the air, with Chiyo nodding in approval. Just before Renge broke the hug, she and Haku saw the back of a figure that looked like someone they knew.

Haku gasped as he set eyes on the figure," It's Nao!"

Haku then started following the figure, with Renge following after him and the rest of the girls following after Renge. Haku tried calling out to the figure as Renge tried to catch up with Haku and keep him hidden in case they came across someone who could see Inner Scholars. The figure led them into the mall and wouldn't listen to Haku who continued to call his name, or at least what he presumed to be his name. Renge was violently whispering at Haku to stop calling for him as they ran deeper and deeper into the mall, reaching the entrance that was opposite to the school. The figure walked out of the mall and stood in the empty parking lot, waiting for the group to catch up to him. When Renge and Haku caught up to him, Renge stopped to catch her breath to catch her breath as she tried to think.

"But, Nao had to have been taken. He's hasn't been at school ever since. But then who is...? Haku, wait!" Renge shouted to the grey Inner Scholar who kept floating over to the figure.

A barrier was then formed around Haku and the figure, just before Vice had appeared to grab Haku.

"Haku!" Renge screamed in panic as she dashed towards the barrier.

"Renge!" Haku yelled before falling into Vice's hands. The three of them disappeared as the barrier broke apart, Renge looking at where the three of them once were with a severely worried look in her eyes.

The girls had caught up to her and Renge turned to face them, saying," We need to head back to the school."

The three of them nodded and ran at break-neck speed towards towards the school.

Vice appeared behind the school having already placed Haku in a tiny capsule, the Inner Scholar out cold, and placed into the empty compartment. He then submerged the saucer into the ground and then, the school appeared to have been consumed by an ominous, black aura that began seeping out from it. Dark grey clouds began to form and the Inner Scholars of everyone in sight began to unwillingly get extracted out from their owners. It was happening at the school yard and everywhere imaginable. Students and teachers alike started to drop to the ground, unconscious and one by one.

Temptasia sat in what used to be the principal's office of Seinori, though the entire interior of the school no longer resembled what it once used to.

"To think, all that power that was harvested from the Delinquouses along with the book in our hands was able to do all this." Temptasia remarked, the mirror still at her side.

"Currently, this is only a temporary state. But, once we can awake Ayuki, we can ensure that this shall be made permanent. And of course, get rid of those Pretty Cure." The voice in the mirror declared.

When Renge and the rest of the group got to the school, Renge gasped aloud as she saw what awaited them. Their school had been turned into a dark, gigantic castle with a mass of people lying on the ground around the school.

"Are we ready?" Renge asked the girls as they all held out their pens. They all nodded in approval before they held their pens up high for one last time.

"Pretty Cure, study session!"


	34. The ideal reality

From Univer Kingdom, the Headmistress looked out past her window gravely as she watched the distant buildings in Univer City crumble to the ground. Her eyes were wide and she could feel her heart sink within her as the buildings continue to collapse before her eyes. But, it wasn't only the buildings falling apart that was driving the Headmistress mad as she looked outside. The sky had been dyed black and the clouds were thick and grey, smoldering and looking ready to initiate a thunderstorm. Her worst nightmares had finally become a reality; watching the demise of her beloved Kingdom was more than enough for her to burst into tears right now. But, she told herself that she needed to remain calm, after all, if this was happening that must've meant the Pretty Cure were fighting to save the book at this very moment. But she had to try and do something, anything, to prevent fatal damage to the Kingdom.

Just then, she heard someone scream at the top of their lungs while she looked out the window. Alarmed and alert now, she saw a young girl who she didn't recognize stand with her back against a tree, a whirlwind coming near to her.

In that instant, she dashed towards the doors of the palace but just before she was able to leave, the Old King boomed,

"Atarah, there's no way you're going out there!"

"I have to!" The headmistress yelled back to him.

The old king then shouted back, "Atarah, you get back here right this instant or I'll-!" before the Headmistress ran out the door and slammed the door shut.

"-Going to ground you..." The old king trailed off, looking quite upset as he looked at the empty space by the door where the Headmistress was a few moments ago.

"You can't ground a grown woman sir." One of the nobles commented sheepishly.

The Headmistress ran across the field, the whirlwind getting closer to the young girl who gripped her ankle tightly as if it were in pain. When the Headmistress appeared before the whirlwind however, it vanished immediately, as if it was never there and the young girl looked towards the Headmistress in admiration.

"You vanquished the whirlwind!" She rejoiced.

The Headmistress was at a loss of words as she tried to comprehend what just happened. She should've been torn to pieces right now, considering how close she was but, instead she was intact and standing before a now thankful young girl.

"Um, you need to get inside." The Headmistress insisted as she helped the girl up to her feet quickly in fear of being unable to retreat back to the palace with the Kingdom like this.

"Do you think you could get these bandages around my ankle? I wouldn't want to make this any worse." The young girl stated as she handed the Headmistress a long tensor bandage that had originally been wrapped around her arm. The Headmistress nodded and took the bandages from the girl, going on her knees to wrap the bandage around her ankle. But, before she could even tie the bandage around her ankle, the bandage snapped around her and transformed into a dark fuchsia band around the Headmistress' hands.

"Hook, line and sinker." The young girl sneered as she stood up with absolutely no difficulty, glowering down to the Headmistress who was now desperately trying to break the band that encircled around her wrists. The Headmistress was relentless as she fought with the band, not wanting to make eye contact with the young girl again, feeling absolutely foolish as she heard the old king shout for her as he ran out of the castle towards the two of them. The young girl placed her hand under the Headmistress' chin and forced her to look her dead in the eyes.

"Think the book's going to save you now?" The girl questioned with a smirk.

"I won't let you get away with this." The Headmistress hissed as continued to try and break the band off.

"We have absolutely everything we need. You may as well say we've already gotten away with this." The girl responded," Now..."

The girl and the Headmistress vanished just as the Old King caught up to them. He panted as he looked to the grass, shaking his head in denial.

"I'm the only one left now..."

"This isn't really the school is it?" Science asked as the four of them walked through the dark castle. Up until then, the group had been deathly quiet ever since walking into the castle. Everyone was thinking the same as Science; this place, it felt nothing like the school and it was near impossible for the girls to grasp the fact that right now, their school had been turned into this place and all their friends and family had been separated from their Inner Scholars. But, despite the fact that this place was seething this ominous, unwelcoming, energy, it was still the school the place where they had learned things about both themselves and other things with people that they called their classmates and they needed to be saved, along with everyone else, by any means necessary.

"I hope everyone evacuated out in time..." History stated nervously as they walked deeper into the school.

"Funny, I don't remember the main hall being this long." Arithmetic chuckled in a mildly uneasy voice as she watched alongside the rest of her group in hopes of lightening the mood. With no avail, she proceeded to walk quietly along.

Literature looked around the castle, inspecting it for any other halls to walk into as they were currently only walking down this single rather long hall. It seemed never ending and it was rather dim in here. As they all kept on walking through this long, seemingly endless hall, Literature was growing impatient and anxious as the hall was beginning to appear to leading them nowhere. Was this what they had been working so hard for towards over the last couple of months? Just to walk around in some dark hallway?

"Gosh, I hope we find a way out of here." Literature declared as she kept on walking. Soon, she found the hall to grow even more quieter without hearing a single comment from any of the girls in a while. Literature turned around to see if the rest of her team was still behind her, but none of them were there. Not even the path they came from was there. It had become a dead end and when Literature spun around again, she found herself inside a classroom in the school she had only been in once.

The classroom was full of first-year students, kids she couldn't recognize, who were currently taking down notes from a white board. The teacher standing at the front of the white board, smearing her notes slightly as she wrote, looked an awful lot like Renge. Literature soon realized that she was invisible to the class and continued to watch the lesson go on.

"Now, class, I'm now going to draw names for your group projects." The teacher declared, her voice not sounding too different from Renge's too; perhaps just a little more matured.

"What's happening...what's going on?" Literature questioned, knowing that no one in the class would likely answer her as she took a cautious step back.

"We're inside the ideal future that you've constructed for yourself from your new dream." A voice said to her. They sounded a little bit like Jika except much more robotic in tone.

"So then, that really is me." Literature affirmed to herself as she watched the teacher draw names from a tin can," This is what my future is going to look like?"

"I can't say, but is it certainly a possibility. There are many possibilities and outcomes for your future. This is just one that you've created for yourself. One that was built in consideration of your comfort zone." The voice explained.

Literature continued to watch the class and her 'future' self teach, soon taking notice of how there was this abject look in her eye. Literature looked at her, registering that look in her eye as regret as she continued to teach.

"My comfort zone huh?" Literature repeated, feeling a little disappointed now as she crossed her arms, holding back on a sigh.

"Yes, the future you think is most reachable without going through things like rejection and failure. The future where you don't get what you really wanted but rather, what you've settled for. However, we aren't just going to view the future you've dreamt of from a logistic standpoint. We're going to go beyond your realistic surface." The voice claimed as the environment around them began to change again. Literature watched apprehensively as the classroom turned into a press room, where an older Renge was standing in the center of a crowd of reporters.

"Miss Kotori, can you disclose to us who's going to be cast as main character Nanako Honda in the movie for your novel Restless and Loveless?" One reporter questioned as he held a microphone up to 'future' Renge.

"I'm not allowed to reveal any information regarding the cast until next month." She debriefed," And I don't even plan on being the one to reveal the cast. If you want those details, you'll need to confer with Ms Sakurami."

"You want fame and fortune. And you want it badly." The voice stated to her candidly as Literature continued to look at her 'future self' get swarmed by even more reporters. This older version of Renge seemed to be very happy with her life, soaking up all this attention as if she were an untouched sponge. She seemed a lot different from present Renge, speaking loudly over the crowd of reporters in a rather condescending, near cocky voice as she dropped a few hints regarding the cast for her novel's movie. She was talkative and enthusiastic, the crowd of reporters simply loved her. As Literature continued to watch her 'future self' she seemed a little unimpressed if anything, her gaze shifting to the parking lot where her future self and the reporters were in front of.

"What's this? Not interested?" The voice inquired suspiciously as Literature looked into the distance with an impatient look on her face as she unconsciously started tapping her feet against the pavement.

"Not really, no. Just point me towards Temptasia and the rest of my team. I'm on a mission you know!" Literature demanded as she stomped her foot, looking up towards the sky having nowhere else to direct her command to.

"Fair enough. For every reality we do want, there's always a reality we don't want to balance things out. Correct?" The voice asked her.

"I guess." Literature exasperated as she ran her hands through her bangs.

"Well, let's take you to the reality that you do want to be in." The voice declared, the atmosphere around them transforming again.

"No thanks, I'd rather you just take me to Temptasia already-!" Before Literature could even finish her sentence, she found herself falling in what had now became a dark void. Literature started screaming and demanded that the voice put an end to this but, a few moments later, she found herself sitting underneath her favourite tree in the school's yard.

She double-blinked having no idea what had just happened and looked around, finding herself at the school as if it had never been touched by Temptation. It was warm and sunny here, but Literature wasn't getting too hot with the tree providing her some shade. Not a cloud in the sky and the sound of students chatting away filled her ears. Along with the sound of some guys running around tossing a football at each other.

It was really peaceful here and it brought Literature at ease as she watched students from her grade and from second-year just take advantage of this nice day. It must've been lunch time with everyone outside right now. Another thing that hinted it being lunch-time was the lunch-boxes in front of everyone sitting outside in groups that were shaped into circles.

"Renge!" She could hear what sounded like Kanari call for her," Renge~!"

When Kanari did find her behind the tree, she greeted her, lunch box in hand, with a giant grin as she sat down beside her. Untransfomed, Renge wasn't sure of what to say as Kanari sat down, proceeding to open her lunch box.

"Do you know if Chiyo's still having lunch with us today? I tried texting her but I never got a reply back." Kanari asked before she sunk her teeth into her sandwich. Renge opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Kanari continued to eat her sandwich before she took notice of the overwhelmed expression on Renge's face.

"You feeling ok?" Kanari asked as she narrowed her eyes at Literature," Here have a granola bar. Wait, where's your lunch?"

"Um, I must've just...left it in the classroom. I'll just go get it right now." Renge declared shakily as she stood up, knees wobbling a little as she started walking towards the school. Renge started breathing heavily as she walked closer and closer towards the school, wondering what would happen if she tried going into it. Would the school just melt before her as she would start falling into that void again? Or perhaps, she wouldn't be able to enter the school and would find herself entering the school yard again. Or worse, she get stuck trying to walk through that stupid endless hall again for what would feel like an eternity. So much was possible and now, it was time to find out just what would happen when she tried opening that door.

She tugged on the door's handles and to her surprise, the door was locked. She tugged on it even harder and just then, a boy from second year pushed it open for her as he walked out.

"Sucks that these doors are getting closed during lunch hour now, huh?" He chuckled to her. Renge nodded a single nod and walked into the school with great caution. Many students that she walked past were from her grade and quite and few of them smiled to her as they exchanged brief greetings. Renge smiled back to them and felt her heart beginning to throb as she made her way to her classroom. She looked through the door's glass window, seeing no one except a few others kids from class. She stared at her bag sitting beside her desk for a few very long moments before she opened it, seeing her lunch-box sitting inside of it. She pulled out the lunch-box with haste and zipped out from the classroom.

When she stepped out of the classroom, she saw Shinko talking with one of her classmates before she turned her attention to Renge.

"Hey Renge! I'm not going to be at club today, I've got a doctor's appointment. Do you think you could tell the teacher for me?" Shinko requested.

"Um, yeah sure." Renge responded as Shinko and her friend started to walk in the opposite direction.

"You're the best!" Shinko beamed with a wave.

Renge waved back to her, eyes wide as she looked around the school. It felt normal, but Renge knew deep down this was definitely too good to be true since this place couldn't have been real. She shook her head and decided that she was going to find a way out. But then, someone put their hands over her eyes.

"Guess who." The voice said with a slight smirk.

Renge reddened as her she placed her hands on the pair of hands over her eyes. They were broad, yet slim with a somewhat delicate feel to them. Slowly, she removed the pair of hands away from her eyes and turned around, finding Nao standing in front of her.

Nao was smiling at her and held her hands as she reddened even more, resembling a tomato as she looked at Nao in shock.

"How are you...?" Renge trailed off as she slowly took her hands out of Nao's grasp.

"Are we still having lunch with your friends?" Nao asked as the two of them began walking towards the school exit. Renge nodded a single nod and Nao laced his fingers into Renge's as they neared towards the exit. Renge could feel the mildly jealous stares from others burn into her as they continued to walk, secretly enjoying their discontent as they reached the exit. But, Renge still had her suspicions, so she kept a very close eye on Nao as they walked out.

When they were back outside, the sun was just as bright and Renge stretched her arms as she basked in it's warmth. Nao giggled and the two walked over to the tree where she had left Kanari. At the tree, Kanari was now sitting with Chiyo, Yugure, Kokoro, Shizuka and Ayano in a little circle.

"Took you long enough." Kanari snickered as the group made room for the two of them in their circle. Literature and Nao sat down in the circle and Renge looked at the group. They seemed to really be enjoying today as Chiyo, Kokoro and Yugure were talking about their clubs while Shizuka was braiding Ayano's hair. Literature exhaled a sigh in relaxation as the group lazed around.

Kanari sat up straight at the bleachers as she watched the group of girls before her do their stretching routine before they started practice. The one leading their stretching routine was Miki, though she seemed younger, as did the rest of the team.

As the team continued to stretch, Miki called out to Kanari," Kanari~! Are you just going to sit there or are you going to practice with us?" Kanari thought back to a few minutes ago, looking at her reflection through her phone inside her pocket. She looked like her middle-school self, before the goth look and of course before Pretty Cure. It appeared that this reflection in the mirror was how she was being perceived by everyone around her. She was at the school track, where the old cheerleading team used to practice and was currently watching the girls do their warm-up. Kanari's biggest priority was to leave and find the rest of the girls, but she couldn't stand to leave just yet as she watched the girls practice. It felt nostalgic and it made Kanari feel at home, so she chose to stay for a little longer than intended.

"So, what cheer are we going to start practicing Miki?" One of the girls asked her. Miki held one finger up to her indicating that she needed a moment and did a cartwheel to loosen herself up.

"Kanari, is everything alright?" Miki asked with concern as she walked up towards the bleachers.

Kanari's head shot up and she looked over to Miki saying," Yeah, I'm just fine. I'm gonna go get a drink of water, ok?"

Miki nodded in approval and Kanari hopped off from the bleachers and walked towards the school, being a little curious as to what would happen as she tried to enter it. As she walked towards school, she was halted by someone who grabbed her arm.

"Kanari, are you ok?" They asked. Kanari found herself standing face to face with a middle-school Renge who seemed to be quite worried about her. Kanari raised her eyebrows at the sight, since Renge hadn't transferred here until high-school. She was wearing the middle-school uniform for Seinori and just before she could ask another question, Kanari merely said,

"Never better! But, what are you doing here? And why are you wearing that outfit?"Kanari asked as she examined Renge's uniform.

"Because I have to...?" Renge responded with an awkward giggle following after," What's with the weird questions?"

"It's nothing I'm just...a little dazed right now, I guess." Kanari answered with a shrug. That voice from earlier when she was falling from the dark void echoed back into her mind as she stood in front of Renge.

 _"High-school's been stressful and chock full of displeasuring times. It was nothing like middle-school, which you like to think were your glory years. Everything was easier and way more fun, but...even you admit, it could've been better. Why don't we see what things were like in the reality where had been done the way you wanted it? And why don't we stay there forever?_ "

"Kanari~?" Renge called out as Kanari started zoning out while remembering what the voice had said to her. Renge then placed the back of her hand on Kanari's forehead.

"Well, you aren't burning up or anything like that..." Renge stated as she checked Kanari's temperature.

"I'm fine Renge." Kanari reassured with a forced chuckle before she heard somebody call for her. Kanari and Renge spun around, finding Yugure and Tsubaki running up towards them.

"Hey, do think you could give this to Miki?" Yugure asked as she held out a water bottle with Miki's name written on it to Kanari," She left it in the gym."

"Of course."Kanari said as she took the water bottle from Yugure. When she took the water bottle from Yugure's hands, she impulsively flinched and the water bottle dropped to the ground.

"Kanari! Are you sure you're ok?" Renge questioned as she picked up the water bottle.

Kanari looked down at her hands, feeling as if they had been impaled by flaming spear. For a second, her hand was numb after contact with the water bottle, but, she soon regained feeling in it. She wiggled her fingers around while trying to make sure her hand had survived whatever just happened after coming in contact with the water bottle.

"Are you hurt?" Tsubaki asked softly as she noticed Arithmetic tend to her hand," Perhaps I should kiss it better."

Kanari arched an eyebrow at her and said in a near bitter voice," Don't joke."

"Ok, I won't joke." Tsubaki declared, getting down on one knee and kissed Kanari's hand.

Kanari turned bright red, too astonished to even draw her hand back as she stood as still as a statue. A gigantic smile appeared on her face after the kiss and Kanari looked down at her hand, still too shocked to even speak.

"Earth to Kanari." Yugure said as she snapped her fingers in Kanari's face.

Kanari's head shot up again and looked at the three girls staring at her with slight concern.

"What are we going to do with you?" Renge questioned with a sigh as Kanari watched them with a blank look in her eyes.

 _"You wanted nothing more than to grow up. To be done with all this high-school nonsense. To get your life under way. You wanted to make your dreams come true. And you them to come true as soon as humanely possible. Well, here we are; your future. Where you're a star. And not just any star, a star that's going to make history."_

Chiyo looked into the large vanity mirror in front of herself. When she looked into the mirror, she saw an older version of herself wearing an extravagant yellow dress along with quite a bit of make-up. Her hair was styled into a bun and sitting around her neck was a necklace with an angel pendant on it.

"Miss Sakurami, the limo is coming in about fifteen minutes alright?" Her personal assistant said to her as she poked her head into her room.

"That'll be just fine." Chiyo replied tonelessly as she fidgeted with the necklace.

"Is something the matter Miss Sakurami?" The assistant asked her curiously as she pulled on her coat. Chiyo looked into the mirror even deeper, feeling as if there was somebody else there watching her, but when she turned around, she only saw the assistant looked at her worriedly. The longer she looked at the mirror, the more she felt like she was forgetting something. What it was was beyond her as she applied a shimmery nude coloured lip gloss named Mirage.

Tonight was going to be a very big night for her as she was attending an award show. Her debut film, Restless and Loveless had been nominated for three awards and she knew very well that she was going to attract a lot of attention tonight, regardless of if she won any awards as this was her breakout film.

"I advise you to not stay at any of the after parties past midnight as you do have an interview tomorrow morning." Her assistant said to her as she looked through a pocket agenda that she had been carrying in her jacket," Miss Sakurami, are you listening?"

Chiyo snapped back to her senses, looking over to her assistant for a brief moment before turning her gaze back towards the mirror.

"I'm fine."Chiyo responded as she stared into her reflection, seeming rather distraught as she narrowed her eyes to her reflection, feeling as if something was missing. Everything seemed in place, from the position of the little ornament in her hair to the size of her heels; that size being eight and a half wide. Everything, even the smallest little details and such were fine but...still, something was off.

The assistant smiled a little, pushing her glasses up as she walked over to Chiyo. She took notice of Chiyo's internal distress, registering it as nervousness as she offered Chiyo a reassuring smile of sympathy before she placed her hand on the director's shoulder.

"Your mother would've been very proud." The assistant beamed kindly before the two of them heard the honk of a car," That must be the chauffeur. Let me get you your coat."

Chiyo blinked slowly for a few moments, as she tried to comprehend just what her assistant meant when she said her mother would've been proud. Chiyo looked at a small picture of her mother that was sitting at the corner of her vanity, her memories feeling even vague than before.

 _"What happened to my mom?"_ Chiyo asked in her head as she squinted at the picture before her assistant called for her. As Chiyo and her assistant walked out of the building, Chiyo continued to think about what the assistant had just said to her. Chiyo's eyes darted towards her assistant as she tried to think. Asking her what had happened to her mother would've seemed strange, but, for her not to remember in the first place was even stranger. When she got in the car, she sat in the back and stared out the window, her thoughts trailing back to tonight's events, rather than what had happened to her mother. Tonight was going to be big for her and if she won at least one award, it would've been even bigger. She had come so far, and while she may have not been able to remember her path to get here all that well, she knew all her efforts had paid off. She was going to finally have her name known. She'll be recognized on the streets, she'll have people begging her for their autograph soon and she'll be the one to inspire the next big director in many, many years to come. She took a deep sigh as a smile emerged onto her face as she closed her eyes contently. Everything was going to be perfect from here on out, after all of those hardships that she failed remember. Chiyo believed she couldn't remember them because now they weren't of importance to her anymore. But still, even despite her success, the fact that she couldn't remember what had happened to her mother was still majorly irritating her. The more she thought about this, the more she realized a lot of things had become blurry to her, including everything that had happened to her today prior to getting ready for the awards show. Chiyo gazed down at her necklace again, rotating it between her fingers as if hoping that would somehow jog her memory.

 _"Something's not right..."_

 _"You are...unique in a sense. You have pretty much everything a teenaged girl could possibly want; from being in a popular crowd, to having your parent's approval to try and make your dreams come true but...something haunts you. Sometimes you think about memories you can't remember and how lovely those times with Minato were. You wish you could go back and relive those times desperately, because all of a sudden...Minato has become distant. Well here you go, here's your childhood, spending the night star-gazing with Minato."_

Science, now living inside her memories from when she was a little girl, was sitting on top of Minato's bed, swinging her feet as Minato zoomed in on a few stars.

"Anything tonight, Minato?" Yugure asked as she leaned in close towards Minato as he took his eyes away from the telescope, a rather disappointed look appearing on his face.

"I'm only seeing this one star." Minato responded, a small sigh escaping his lips. Yugure looked over to the telescope, viewing the lone star in the sky tonight. Minato seemed dissatisfied as he looked at it through his window while Yugure drew her head back, feeling as disappointed as Minato was, but was willing to try and make this a positive situation.

"Well, let's name the star." Yugure suggested after taking her eyes away from the telescope.

"Name it?" Minato repeated, holding back on a scoff," Ok...how about, Castar?"

"Already been used." Yugure responded neutrally with a blank look in her eyes.

Minato flinched, surprised that Yugure knew that," Of course! I was just messing with you! Um, what about...Atria?"

"Already used." Yugure answered, just as neutrally as before.

"Altair?"

"Already used."

"Diamond?"

"That's lame."

"Vega?"

"That's already been used Minato!" Yugure exasperated as she threw her pillow at him. Minato groaned as the pillow fell to the ground as he tried to think of another name to suggest.

"Well, if there's already a star called Vega, then how about M. Bison?" Minato suggested.

"Huh?" Yugure said as she tilted her head.

"In Street Fighter, the characters Vega, Balrog and all had their names switched around in the English release of their game. So Vega was given the name M. Bison." Minato explained to the still confused Yugure.

"Why'd they do that?" Yugure questioned, sounding much more interested than Minato expected.

"They thought Vega sounded too weak for the name of a final boss." Minato answered, feeling amused in the fact that Yugure was so interested.

"But I just thought of a really good name..." Yugure stated with a slight pout as her gaze shifted to Minato's bed sheets.

"What kinda name were you thinking?" Minato inquired as he returned to viewing the star through his telescope.

"I was thinking the name Stella!" Yugure responded in a cheerful voice.

"Because it means star in Italian, right? That's way better than M. Bison." Minato responded, sounding quite impressed with Yugure.

"Actually I was just naming it after my doll..." Yugure replied sheepishly as she sctratched the back of her head," What if we combined the two names?"

Minato didn't appear to be on board with her and so Yugure said," How does, Stella M. Bison sound to you?"

"Weird." Minato answered flatly," But, it kinda has a nice ring to it. I like it."

Yugure smiled after hearing Minato's response, her gaze going back to the stars. When she looked at the star, she suddenly felt a wave of deja vu coming to her. The star was an oddly vibrant colour, also...topaz. The star looked very familiar all of a sudden, but, she wasn't sure where she had seen it before. Actually, when she took her gaze away from the star, everything here felt very vaguely familiar here too. Not as if she had been in this room before, which she had but rather, like she had already lived out this very moment. Maybe she had dreamt of this moment already, or...maybe she was dreaming now.

Yugure shook her head in disbelief, about to dismiss this ridiculous thought, but then, she looked at the necklace hanging around her neck. The pendulum pendant made everything seem like it wasn't real here and Yugure couldn't understand why. The necklace felt very out of place here, and having it slung around her neck made her extremely suspicious of her surroundings.

 _"What in the world is going on?"_

Renge and the group continued to talk amongst themselves during the lunch hour, talking about things like how annoying some of their teachers were and such. It was relaxing to just sit here in a small crowd of her friends on such a nice day. If only the day could last forever. As Renge opened her granola bar, she looked at the group with content but noticing something seemed off. It felt like a hour had past, but when Renge checked her phone, it was only the beginning of lunch. She wondered if her phone was just glitching out or something, but then, when she looked up to the sky, she noticed the sun hadn't even moved an inch ever since they sat down. In fact, she couldn't even remember what she had been doing here before she sat down to have lunch with the group. Overwhelmed, Renge decided to stand up to try and figure this out, only to get slightly light-headed after standing up too fast. Nao rose up to her side and asked her,

"Is everything alright?"

Renge looked into his eyes and almost felt disgust when she saw the vacant look in them. His tone may've been had a ring of concern to it, but his expression didn't seem to match. Actually, everyone's smiles felt hollow all of a sudden after Renge took a good look at them, as if this was made-up. Had they looked this insincere and empty this entire time? Renge then wondered if being so over-joyed with being here caused her to let a few things go unnoticed. Perhaps she was just overthinking things, so...to test it out, Renge said,

"Gosh, I can't believe graduation is coming so soon..."

"Graduation?" Kokoro repeated," It's not that soon."

Renge's eyes widened as she placed her hand over her mouth in shock, unsure of what exactly to say for a few moments before she shouted,

"Yes it is! It's literally in two weeks!"

"But, it's only the beginning of second term Renge." Ayano stated, with Renge staring at her madly after she said that.

"How long has it been the beginning of second term?" Renge asked in suspicion with her eyes narrowed at Ayano.

"Goodness Renge, what kind of question is that?" Shizuka asked with an awkward chuckle, silently notioning everyone to join her to lighten the mood.

"Do you wanna go get a drink of water?" Nao suggested as he took a gentle hold of her hand again.

"Yeah, but not with you." Renge declared as she broke free from his hand's grip. Renge stormed into the school and sat on top of the school's heaters next to the door, something she was prohibited to do but she no longer cared as she tried to think about what just happened.

"It is almost the end of the second term, isn't it?" Renge questioned. She felt like she was forgetting something, but she just couldn't figure out what it was. It felt like the beginning of second term was ages ago but, she couldn't remember what she had been doing all that time. It had to have been something really important if it was bugging her this much.

She then burrowed her hands into her pockets in frustration and found something that she didn't recall having placed in there. She pulled out her Fountain Pen of knowledge and just then, all of those memories came flooding back to her.

"That's right...none of this is actually real. I still have a mission to complete." Renge said in a near somber voice as she held the pen up high before shouting,

"Pretty Cure, study session!"

Kanari sat on the bleachers as the girls took their break. She kicked the sand beneath her and took a few moments to just stare down at the sand. She was dangerously quiet, so Miki felt the need to approach her, noticing something had been off with her the entire time.

"Kanari, is there something wrong?" Miki asked as she down beside Kanari.

"I feel like I've forgotten something...but I have no clue as to what is it..." Kanari explained as she continued to kick the sand, her eyes adverting Miki's stare.

"Forgotten something...like, left something at home?" Miki questioned as Kanari stood up to stretch.

"No, like...something bigger than that, but I'm just not sure of what it is." Kanari responded as she stretched her arms. Miki stood up next to her and then said,

"Well, whatever it is, you'll probably remember it sooner or later."

Kanari kept standing there as she scanned her memory for whatever it was she had been forgetting. She checked the time on her phone briefly and then looked over towards the group, taking note of the fact that what seemed to have been an hour had gone past and yet... it was like no time at all had past. It was unsettling to say the least and though she suspected that her phone might've just been malfunctioning, she noticed that her bottled water, which had been laying out in the sun for the last hour, was still ice cold, just how she left it when she went to practice with the girls. She looked up towards the sky as she tried remembering what else had happened today aside from her practice. She couldn't remember anything before practice unfortunately and this just caused her to get even more suspicious.

"This isn't right..." Kanari said as she held the water bottle in her hands, only to put it back on the bench where had originally been sitting as she looked over towards Miki," Um, how much longer until practice is over?"

"I think about...an hour or so?" Miki estimated as she started stretching.

"Kanari~!" She heard what sounded like Renge call for her," I got you a nice, cold bottle of water for practice!"

"Thanks Renge, but I don't need one." Kanari claimed as she waved a hand of dismissal," I've already got one right-"

As Kanari turned out to lift the bottled water off of the bench, she found that it had disappeared,"-Here?"

The rest of the girls took notice of Kanari's distress rather quickly as she squirmed around looking for the water bottle that had previously been on the bench. After a few moments of searching, being unable to find the water bottle, Kanari took a deep breath. It was puzzling and it made zero sense to her how the water bottle had just disappeared and it seemed like the girls didn't seemed as shocked as she was with the disappearance of the water bottle. They looked at her with a mixture of concern and doubt in their eyes as Kanari placed her hands on her hips, unsure of where the water bottle went to.

"Kanari, do you want to sit down for the first few minutes of practice?" Miki offered as she placed a hand on Kanari's shoulder.

"No, I just think I need to walk it off." Kanari answered in a huff as she rushed off of the field. She laced her fingers behind her head as she tried to determine what was going on. She felt like she was inside a paradox, and sealed off from reality. But what reality she was sealed off from was something that she felt unable to remember. It was like she had spent too long here that she had no memory of what was happening to her before she was sent away to this dimension.

"This place is insane..." Kanari said as she crouched down underneath a tree, moments before something fell from the tree and landed on her head.

"Ow! What the-?!" Kanari shouted before she saw what had fallen into her lap. Laying there was her Fountain Pen of knowledge. The longer she looked at it, the quicker everything came back to her. After her memories were restored, she stood up, a bittersweet smile appearing on her face as she said,

"That's right, this place is nothing more than a fantasy world."

"Well, I guess it's better I know now." Kanari stated as she tossed her pen up, catching it as she shouted," Pretty Cure, study session!"

"Stop the car." Chiyo demanded after feeling the discontent of not remembering how her mother passed bubble up to it's peak.

Her assistant merely sighed, disregarding her demand as she said," Miss Sakurami, we don't have much time until-"

"-I'm not going to repeat myself." Chiyo interrupted sternly as she looked the assistant dead in the eyes. The assistant looked at her hesitantly, feeling Chiyo's glare burning holes into her. She said nothing for a few long moments and then finally, she turned to the chauffeur, pulling down the partition as she said,

"Please stop here, Miss Sakurami needs some air."

The chauffeur complied and as he stopped the car, Chiyo ripped opened the car door and ran at a break neck speed back to the building they came from. Running so fast, she probably would've twisted her heel at this point, but no, she somehow managed to do no such thing. And even if she did, it was likely she wouldn't have noticed considering how intent she was on getting back to the building. When she dashed into the building, pulling open the heavy door hastily, she garnered a few stares and a single gasp standing in the door way. As she made her way to the elevator of the building, she could hearing a few people murmuring her name, but she paid them no heed. She took a deep breath as she pressed the button to close the elevator and when she got to her floor, she went into her suite and found her Fountain Pen of Knowledge sitting beside a small dish.

"How long had this been here?" Chiyo asked as she sat down beside it, inspecting the pen as she held it up to the light," And why does it feel so familiar?"

When Chiyo watched the gem on the end of it glint in the light, everything suddenly came rushing back to her. From all her fights against Temptation, to meeting the rest of Pretty Cures, and watching her mother get abducted. Chiyo held the pen close to her chest, feeling like a total idiot upon realizing what had happened.

"I need to find a way out of here and I need to find it now..." Chiyo declared as she held the pen up high," Pretty Cure, study session!"

Yugure wrapped her arms around her knees as she tried to figure out why she was having the strangest sense of deja vu here. It shouldn't have been normal for her to feel as if she had already lived through this exact event and yet, it made Yugure feel as if she was living in the past strangely enough.

 _"How is it possible for me to feel like this? Like I've already been through this?"_ Yugure thought to herself, _"This isn't a dream, is it?"_

The thought of this all being a dream brought a temporary comfort to Yugure; the reason for it being only temporary was because of the fact that she still had this nagging feel that she was indeed awake, though, the more she thought about that star and the necklace slung onto her, the more surreal everything felt. When she pressed her hands against the cold pendant of the necklace, she felt like she didn't belong here. Like something else was beckoning for her, but she had no clue what it was.

She then decided to step out of Minato's room, just to get some fresh air. When she walked over to the door to Minato's room, she found herself unable to open it as she turned the knob for a few prolonged moments with no give.

"Minato, your door's broken." Yugure called out as she continued to try and open the door.

Minato got up from his seat where he had been looking through his telescope and walked over to Yugure. He watched her attempted to open the door for a few more moments and after she had admitted defeat, Minato pushed her aside so that he could fiddle with it. For him, all it took was one turn and the door swung open. Though, what was residing at the other side of the door wasn't something that Yugure had been expecting.

It was just a dark room, well, Yugure assumed it was a room as she was too scared of the thought of it being some kind of void. Yugure looked at it shock while Minato just looked at her curiously, arching an eyebrow at her.

"What is it?" Minato asked her, Yugure doing nothing but jerking her head towards him in surprise, unsure of whether or not they were seeing the same thing.

"Are you ok, Princess?" Minato asked as he knelt down to Yugure and tried placing his hand on her forehead.

Yugure impulsively slapped back his hand before she stammered out,"I'm fine, just go back to the telescope."

Minato didn't seemed the slightest bit convinced, but complied as he walked back towards the telescope. Yugure leaned against the wall as she tried regaining composure, sinking down a little as she did so. This place couldn't have been real for that to have happened, but then...did that just mean she was living through her memories? She wondered if she was in some kind of coma and tried to figure out what she had been doing before she had been viewing the stars with Minato. Nothing was adding up and just before she was about to give up and resume her star-gazing session with Minato, she saw something sitting on Minato's desk.

Sitting there was her Fountain Pen of knowledge and cautiously, she walked over towards it and quietly picked it up. She was tempted to ask Minato where he had gotten it, but, something told her that it didn't belong to him. It felt as out of place as the necklace and the second she picked it up, all of her memories came rushing back to her.

Yugure felt overwhelmed as she held the pen close to her blinking a couple of times as she thought about what next to do.

"I've got to get out of here. There are still people who need to be saved..." Yugure said to herself as she hung her head while caressing the pendant of her necklace," But the question is, how do I get out?"

Literature ran as fast as she could out of the school, trying to figure out how she was going to free herself from this false reality. As she ran out, she stopped briefly to inspect the school yard, realizing that everyone was gone. The only things that remained here were the trees and the everything else that was inaminate in the yard. Literature took a deep breath, and shut her eyes in an attempt to focus and try to think of where the exit out of here would be.

"Appear, Ardent Scepter!" Literature called out, her red scepter materializing before her. When the scepter appeared, Literature heard a low growling from behind her. Nervously, Literature turned around to find that the school had been morphed into a gigantic Delinquous. It roared and glowered down to Literature before it started to chase her. Literature held back a scream as she rang as fast as her feet could take her, only to crash into a low branch on the tree that her group had been sitting under.

"You know what, tree?" Literature grumbled as she rubbed her forehead, hoping a bruise wouldn't appear. Just then, the roaring of the Delinquous stopped and the Delinquous had changed it's form again, this time changing into a pitch black silhouette of Cure Literature with deep red eyes.

"Hmph, and you call yourself a leader. Allowing yourself to get caught up in a world of delusions knowing that you have a world you think you could save." The silhouette sneered as Literature backed up against the tree.

"We meet again." Literature said with an exhausted sigh as she glanced at the silhouette.

"Renge, what on earth do you think you're doing?" The silhouette asked her gently, taking a step closer towards her.

"I'm trying to save everyone's Inner Scholars, what does it look like?" Literature snapped as she proctectively held her scepter in front of herself.

"Really, because it seemed like you were upset when you realized this world was just an illusion." The silhouette reasoned," Admit it, Renge. There's nobody but you and I here, you're too scared to face Temptasia. In fact, you wished you didn't have to fight her so that you could just delay your graduation with the worlds in ruins right now."

"That's ridiculous and that's not true!" Literature hollered as she sent a whirlwind from her wand to the silhouette. The silhouette dodged or rather, evaded the attack as it went right through her and she disappeared in a flash only to appear beside Literature.

"Alright, maybe that was a bit of hyperbole but...don't deny it Renge. You would've rather been here than face the reality you've been dealt with." The silhouette declared.

"That's not true..." Literature said quietly, her voice very shaky.

"Wow, if your going to lie, can you at least try and make yourself sound convincing?" The silhouette remarked with a scoff," I'm only looking out for you, because guess what? I know you from the inside out. I know that you hate the idea of graduating and growing up. I know you don't want to face the future anymore, because you and I both know..."

"Don't say it." Literature said between gritted teeth with a shake of her head.

"You're too damn scared to go out into the real world because you're going to fail! You're going to fall through the cracks of society and lose everything because you live on impulse!" The silhouette cackled.

Literature slumped her shoulders as the silhouette cackled, her gaze falling to her feet. Actually hearing those words out loud rather having them bounce through her mind was worse than she could've ever imagined.

"So what?" Literature said quietly as the silhouette continued to laugh, getting the attention of the silhouette," So what if I'm scared of the real world? So what if I scared I'll be thrown into a world of instability where I have everything I could've ever wanted right now here in high-school? Who wouldn't be afraid of leaving everything they've grown to love only to restart the cycle again without knowing if everything will go as planned? Yeah, alright fine. I am very afraid. I'm afraid I'm going to lose touch with my friends, afraid I won't be able to adapt to a new lifestyle and I'm afraid of failing and disappointing everyone, including myself. I'm ok with being afraid, but I can't let it dictate how I live my life. And while I would indeed enjoying spending my days with my friends here loftily, I know things are going to have to change. I'm going to have to change too. And while right now that feels impossible for me, I know hard work is going to pull me through. So I won't give up here, I'm going to everything in power to put an end to Temptasia!" Literature declared as she darted towards the silhouette and sparred with it.

"Quit acting all high and mighty! Don't act like you can't fail even if you put in the effort! That's not always how the world works! You could try as hard as you can to achieve something and you could still fail! Don't you see how pointless this is?" The silhouette barked as she fought with Literature.

"Hard work isn't pointless." Literature declared as she punched the silhouette and sent her flying upwards," And even I fail, I can still try again. I'll just have to learn from my mistakes."

The silhouette crashed onto the ground, unable to move an inch as Literature walked up towards her.

"I can't assure either of us that I'm going to defeat Temptasia but I'll tell you this." Literature began as she crouched down beside the silhouette," I will do everything in my power to try an put an end to her and I won't give up if I get knocked down, be it once or a thousand times."

When Arithmetic rushed back onto the field, she was astonished to find that everyone had disappeared and a Delinquous awaiting her arrival. Arithmetic conjured out her scepter and dashed towards the Delinquous. She leapt up high and kicked it in the face and was more shocked when she saw the Delinquous shape shift into a silhouette of herself, rubbing her face tenderly.

"Oh I'm fine, don't worry about me." The silhouette said sarcastically as she rubbed her face.

"What are you?" Arithmetic asked anxiously as she took a step back.

"What? You don't know?" The silhouette asked as she stood up, walking towards Arithmetic slowly," I'm what I'd like to call, the physical embodiment of your common sense. Your conscience pretty much. And boy, am I going to talk some common sense into you."

The silhouette dashed up towards Arithmetic and started to fight with her.

As the two of them fought, the silhouette said," Kanari, this is a big mistake! You shouldn't try and let yourself get hurt for people who you don't matter to!"

"What would make you say something like that?" Arithmetic groaned as she kicked the silhouette in it's midsection.

"Because it's the truth? Kanari, listen to me, if you against Temptation, that's all going to be your fault! You don't even know what Temptasia might do to you just for trying to defeat her! This isn't very wise and if I were you, I would just stay here until this all blows over. At least then you won't have to risk anything." The silhouette suggested to Arithmetic.

"Until this all blows over?" Arithmetic scoffed," That won't happen if we don't fight back. And just staying here is already risk enough. If I were to abandon my team here, I couldn't forgive myself not I have a mission to complete. I stay, I risk letting everyone lose their Inner Scholars while Univer City disappears under Temptasia's reign. I can't and I won't stay here any longer."

The silhouette changed it's form once more, into a wispy cloud that encircled around Arithmetic as she said," But, the thought is tempting. Wouldn't you agree? Just being here, in an ideal little world where you can just cheer lead with Miki and have all your friends by your side? Isn't that what you want?"

Arithmetic took a deep breath thoughtfully before saying," It may be what I would like to have. But I won't let myself have it if it means I have to jeopardize the existence of Univer Kingdom and give up after coming so far."

"Why not? We both know this shouldn't be any of your business, we know that isn't fair that you have to risk your life for people who will have never even known about you saving them in the first place!" The silhouette shouted.

"I shouldn't have to care about whether or not my good deed goes unnoticed and I don't. I'm not doing this for attention. I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do." Arithmetic declared as she punched the silhouette in the face, whirling her towards the other side of the field.

Arithmetic walked over to the silhouette, having thrown into the bleachers. When she got close to the silhouette, she simply said,

"I'll admit, I never thought this whole Pretty Cure thing would become such a big part of my life, but..." Arithmetic began,"...I wouldn't have given up this experience for anything in the world."

History noticed the figure from the mirror again and when she spun around, she found herself face to face with a silhouette of herself. History impulsively kicked the silhouette in it's midsection and flung it towards the door of her room as she conjured up her scepter.

"What are you supposed to be?" History questioned as she glowered towards the figure, scepter held out in front of herself.

The silhouette seemed mournful as she hung her head, releasing a sigh as she said," I'm just here to tell you what you should be doing. And what you should be doing is letting yourself stay here and watch your dreams come true."

"Why the hell would I let myself stay here? Knowing that terrible things will happen if I just accept defeat and delude myself into this fake reality?" History questioned.

"Because you know better than to let yourself get caught up in a fight that you had business being apart in the first place." The silhouette answered," You were forced into this, you didn't have to become a Pretty Cure and you don't have to take part in this. You shouldn't have had to compromise what could've been a successful year for the sake of some far off land's existence that has nothing to do with. And because of this, bad things have happened, things that could been avoided if you just simply declined those girls' offer. Aren't you feeling the slightest hint of regret right now? Well, I'm not asking because I don't know, I'm asking to see if you're aware of what you're feeling."

"I guess you make a good point." History declared slowly," None of these things, like my own mother getting abducted to me nearly losing my job, would've happened if I just said no. But, I know the situation would've been much worse had I declined their offer. I never wanted to be involved to the point where I was living two separate in fear of having my friends and family get hurt, but I've been doing all this to make sure that they wouldn't get hurt and stay out of the hands of Temptation. Not to mention the regret I would've likely been plagued with had I have refused their offer, knowing that they needed me. I knew I couldn't have turned my back on them and I won't turn my back on them now!"

History then began to spar with the silhouette again, receiving a kick in the stomach by the silhouette. Quickly she recovered as she threw a punch into the silhouette's chest.

"Besides, I don't think I've wasted my year like this." History declared," If anything, I think this experience has done a few wonders for me."

"But, this place...all that you could've possibly wanted resides here. This place, rest assured, you can be happy and successful. Nothing will go wrong here, you'd be free of your regrets if you just stayed." The silhouette declared as she cornered History into the wall.

"What are you talking about? I don't have everything here." History responded as she hung her head," In this place, I don't remember how I even made my films. I just get nominated for awards having no idea what it took for me to get nominated for them. I don't get to feel the pride from having my hard work pay off because it never happened. This isn't the kind of future I want. I want to feel as if I deserve those awards and recognition. I want to earn it, not have it just given to me."

"That's foolish of you! You can have all the glory and fame you could've ever wanted here and yet you'd throw it all away over one little thing?" The silhouette shouted as it threw History into the door of the room.

History rose up to her feet, wobbling a little as she did while bracing against the door. She looked at the silhouette in pity as she got up to her feet, moments away from darting towards the silhouette again.

"No, it's not foolish at all." History declared as she started to fight with the Delinquous again," What is foolish is for you to believe that you can achieve glory without hard work. The two of them go hand in hand and I can't stop here. If one thing's for certain, I'm not going to stand for this any longer and we're going to defeat Temptation. And when Temptation gets defeated, I'm going to do make my dreams come true the right way, through hard work and ambition."

"Wh-where did Minato go?" Science asked as she scanned around the room after transforming. He was nowhere in sight and all the Yugure saw was her reflection in the mirror of Minato's closet door. Suddenly, her reflection jumped out from the mirror and morphed into a silhouette. The silhouette then looked at Science, a smile appearing on her face as she slowly strolled over in front of her. Science stood her ground defensively and summoned her scepter as she kept her eyes on the silhouette.

Science sputtered, "Wha-what in the world are you-?"

"Me? I'm you, but...I'm that part of you who's a little more vocal about opinions." The silhouette said with a simple shrug.

"What do you mean?" Science asked as she took a small step back.

"I mean..." The silhouette began as she took a deep breath,"...I just want things to stay the same, and I want things to just work them out for themselves! Why did Minato have to leave, and why I have just spent the rest of my school nights star-gazing with Minato without a care in the world? Things were so much simpler back then, I wished I didn't have to grow up and I wish I didn't have to take part in this fight!"

Science looked at the silhouette wide-eyed, unsure of what she could say. The smile on the silhouette's face appeared again, knowing that Science couldn't say anything to deny these thoughts, as this was the truth.

"This world has been constructed from your inner desires. It was made to keep you happy, as anyone could see..." The silhouette began as she darted up towards Science,"...You've been suffering for much too long."

"I...I haven't been suffering...at least, I don't think I have." Science stated as looked down to the ground nervously.

"Don't deny it. It only makes things harder." The silhouette said softly," But, I know how you feel on the inside, despite the fact that you've been internalizing things like your longing for those times with Minato and the stars. Those weekends spent with the kids in the neighborhood. High-school wasn't much compared to those days. It never could compare. But here, you could just relive those days, like Minato never left. He wouldn't ever leave you and you would never have to grow up. Wouldn't that all be wonderful?"

Science looked towards the door of Minato's room that led to nowhere. Being in this realm, not having to age or worry about the future. It was a sickeningly pleasant thought for Science. But at the same time, it was something she couldn't allow herself to have.

"I could never do that, stay here while everyone else suffers. As a Pretty Cure, I can't just think of myself and what I want." Science stated," I don't want to fight, but...I also don't want to abandon everyone and be the reason my team loses. So, I can't just stay here and live in the past."

As Science and the silhouette began to fight again, the silhouette asked," Why not? To hell with everyone else! As long as your happy, does anything else really matter?"

"Yes! Because _I'm_ not going to be happy knowing I deserted everyone else in search of false happiness while everyone is suffering on my account. I'm going to save everyone with my team and I'm not going to let you stop me!" Science yelled.

"But, what if this is the closest you'll ever get to happiness again?" The silhouette questioned," Are you willing to take that risk?"

Science scoffed, elbowing the silhouette in the chest," You make it sound like I haven't been happy ever since I was a kid. You realize that's not true right? While high-school may have not been as great as my childhood, that doesn't mean I wish it never happened. So many good things have happened during these last few years like, me finally discovering my passion for astronomy, making friends with the rest of the Pretty Cure..."

Science reached into her shirt for the necklace, biting back a smile as she looked down at it,"...Meeting him."

"So, no. I don't want to live in my memories forever. Sure, sometimes, I wish I was still a little kid and was by Minato's side but, I realize that things can't be like that forever. But I'm fine with that. Plus, I think I might get bored of doing nothing but watching the stars with Minato all the time!" Science chuckled," I'm sorry but, I have some unfinished business, so I'm going to have to leave."

"So what, you're just going to risk everything, in hopes that you may succeed in your task to save the day?" The silhouette asked restlessly as she started to disappear.

"I guess so." Science replied with a shrug before the silhouette fully vanished," Now, where might the way out of here be? There must be some sort of gateway between this fake world and the real one."

The door that led to that strange void didn't seem much like a gateway out of here and Science didn't want to take any chances. Science then shifted her gaze over to the telescope and her eyes widened curiously.

"No, it couldn't be..."

"It's the tree, isn't it?" Literature asked aloud to no one in particular as she narrowed her eyes at the tree.

"Funny, it would make sense for it to be this thing, I guess..." Arithmetic remarked as she stood in front of the water bottle.

"You'd think the idea of risking seven years of bad luck would freak me out and yet..." History trailed off as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Simultaneously, the girls all broke the objects before them as they shouted in unison,

"Here goes nothing!"


	35. At ends with myself

Jika and Temptasia sat together in a dimly lit room, with a table between the two of them. Temptasia sat with her legs on the legs while Jika simply looked down at her arms, seeming quite exhausted as she looked towards them. A small clock-face had appeared onto her arm and once a minute a passed on the clock, a cuckoo bird sprang out from the clock. Jika watched the cuckoo bird desolately before turning her attention to the three other faces that had just appeared on her other arm. That stunt Temptasia made her pull had done a number on her body and not on did she feel drained of every inch of her power, she felt as if all her motivation had been sapped out from her as well.

Temptasia glared towards Jika, her cheeks against her fist before she swung her legs off the table and walked over towards Jika. When she stood at Jika's side, she held up her right arm to inspect it, noticing a clock winding down on Jika's arm.

"Four, three, two..." Temptasia counted down slowly before another cuckoo bird burst out from her arm,"...One. Well, wasn't that something?"

Jika glanced over to Temptasia direction, her shoulders slumped greatly while she held back a gigantic sigh. Temptasia could do nothing but offer Jika a cheery, but inevitable wicked smile as if she was trying to impose a hopeful demeanor that she hoped would be instilled into Jika. But, her plan hadn't worked as Jika sighed and turned the other way, her head now hung as she ignored the countless other clocks appearing other parts of her body.

"Oh c'mon. I know you have some fight left in you." Temptasia encouraged as she lightly punched Jika's shoulder, only for a stop-watch to appear on it moments after," Alright, well...when I say I know you have some fight left in you...I mean you're going to fight until there's _nothing_ left of you."

"I don't care. I'll do what you want. You've done your worst already." Jika spat bitterly as she turned her head over slightly to Temptasia,"...I could've lived in pure ignorant bliss if I didn't let you tempt me into viewing those other stupid dimensions. Dimensions where I'm an actual person with an actual life and not just your underling. I still can't believe out of every dimension, every alternate universe I saw, the one where I was living the worst life possible was right here."

"But look at it like this! You can turn your misfortune into something worth celebrating by ending those Pretty Cures once and for all! You can rebuild your life the way you want it to be and all you have to do is, just get rid of those girls. We have everything we need now, all that's left is to finish those Pretty Cures and we're good! In fact, I've got a little something for you..."

"Oh joy, I sure can't wait to see this." Jika remarked sarcastically. Temptasia took a few steps back, feeling the wall for a door-knob. Once she found the door-knob, she slowly opened it and revealed what appeared to be some cyber dimension in the place of an actual room.

"So, I'm just going to fight some random Pretty Cure in here?" Jika questioned as she weakly walked over in front of the room beside Temptasia.

"No. I'm giving you and only you the choice to fight whoever you want." Temptasia declared with a small smile appearing on her face. Jika looked over to her superior curiously and then tried to think of whom she would want to face off in this final match. This was admittingly, a tough choice. She didn't harbor any particular resentment towards any of the girls, but then, someone did end up crossing her mind. Little Miss Popular who had virtually everything yet was still unsatisfied needed to be put in her place after her display in the ideal realities.

"Fine, I've decided who I'll fight. But please, whatever happens, don't let Zephora or Rishi share my fate because of me..." Jika pleaded," That is, if I end up failing."

"Oh no, don't worry. I'm not letting them get hurt on your account. They're going to atone for their own wrong-doings if they want to survive." Temptasia concluded as she crossed her arms.

"What wrong-doings?" Jika questioned.

"Zephora lied to me, saying that the mirror had been destroyed. But, if that had been the case, _she_ would've been awake by now. And Rishi and Vice replaced the beacon Delinquous after it had been purified in hopes of deceiving me. Believe me, you aren't the only one who has taken advantage of my trust. Now, you have this last chance. So, anymore questions?"

"Just one more, what's this supposed to be?" Jika asked in a mildly timid voice as she pointed to the room," Our battlefield?"

"This? No, no, not your battlefield." Temptasia responded softly as she stood on her tip-toes to whisper to Jika," Your new body."

"There has to be some way out of here!" Xan exasperated as he bashed his head against the wall of the room that him and his brothers had been held prisoner here," We can't just sit around here while the girls are fighting as we speak!"

"There probably is some way out of here..." Topher began tonelessly as his eyes darted around the room suspiciously.

"...But it's likely we won't be able to get out of here on our own." Renny finished as he looked around for some kind of door to this woefully cramped room. Xan looked at his brothers in astonishment, not being able to believe that he was the only one in the room who was actually trying to find a way out. He was growing desperate and a tad claustrophobic as he continued to try and look for a way out.

"B-but, all we did was just follow the girls in and then, we got separated...They're probably looking for us right now!" Xan claimed, gaining the attention of both his brothers as they simultaneously cocked their heads towards him. They gave him a skeptic look, knowing that not even Xan himself was able to believe his words.

"Or, they've yet to notice that we've gone missing. But, we need to help them don't we? We need to at least try and find a way out of this room, charmed or not." Xan declared, flinching before his brothers would chastise him for using that word. However, to Xan's surprise, they did no such thing and stared at the center of the room curiously. Xan joined in, unsure of what they were looking at.

Literature stood in front of three doors in a room that as dark as every other place in this castle, with the smallest trace of light shining down on them. Literature took a deep breath and she tried to think and figure out what these doors would be leading her to.

"Could one of these lead to Temptasia?" She asked herself quietly before biting her thumb," If that was the case, then where would the other two lead to? More distractions? I don't wanna waste any time right now so, I guess I'll just go with..."

Just before she inched closer to the door she was going to choose, the one on the right, it vanished on her. Confused, Literature wanted to try and make sense of what just happened right now but chose not to with the need to find Temptasia dwelling within her. Literature took a deep breath and marched over to what used to be the door in the center, which was now the door on the end. Violently, she turned the knob and opened the it. When it opened, she was pulled into the room and shrieked as she found herself falling again.

"Did I pick the wrong door?" Literature asked between clenched teeth as she fell.

"One door left." History remarked as she looked at the entrance before her. The other two entrances in this small room she had been transported into after breaking that mirror had disappeared while she was still trying to decide which door to go through. Well, at least now it was easier for her to decide. Slowly, she brought her hand towards the knob and turned the it. When she opened it, she found herself walking into a pitch-black room. It was a little cold in here and eerily quiet as she ambled through. She tried to feel for a wall, but she couldn't feel anything; not even the door in which she came from.

"Is there anyone in here?" History called out as she tried to look around the room, her heart starting to race as she felt as if someone was watching her.

"But of course! _You're_ in here, aren't you?" A voice that sounded like Zephora bellowed to her.

"Zephora...?" History muttered under her breath," I meant anyone else? And turn the lights on so I can fight whatever Delinquous you throw at me and just proceed to Temptasia."

"No, sorry, I don't think so." Zephora retorted quickly as a single light beamed onto the far wall by what appeared to be a stage, though Zephora wasn't in sight.

"See, you're not going to advance to Temptasia, this is where you meet your demise Cure History. I'm so glad this fated battle is happening at this very moment."

"What's going on?" History questioned as she looked towards the stage.

"This will be one for the books..." Zephora declared," For I have one thing about myself that sets me apart from the rest of my team. Rishi can't for the life of him remember what his past life was like and most of us have a faint idea that Jika was scrap metal from a clock gone hay-wire. But, me? I remember everything and now..."

Zephora appeared from out of nowhere on the stage from a puff of smoke, wearing an outfit very much unlike her usual grey gown. What she wore instead was a somewhat revealing dress that consisted of a checkered top, a skirt that appeared to have been made from a deck of cards with slate high-heeled boots that reached her knees and a top hat with a tattered veil underneath it. However, the one thing that unsettled History the most as she looked at her opponent was the fact that Zephora's eyes were finally open, revealing them to have had a green and yellow spiral design on them.

"...This is where the fun begins."

Science looked around the room she had been sent into as she sat on the floor quietly. It was a strange looking place, it made her feel as if she was in some sort of cyber network as there was actually no solid floor or walls. Just a bunch of digital numbers floating all around her. Her breathing was quiet as she stared at the numbers, feeling her eyes start to hurt a little with them being so bright. It was nerve-wracking to just sit here and wait, feeling like something big was coming but not knowing what it was. So, slowly, Science stood up and just then, Jika's voice rang out with this cyber room.

"Are you ready to initialize this final battle?"

Science's heart dropped, feeling a wave of both relief and distress come to her as she looked around for Jika, not being able to find her anywhere. She squeezed her hands together in front of her chest as she spun her head around searching for Jika.

"Where are you? If we're going to fight, you better face me right now!" Science demanded shakily as she kept an eye out for Jika.

"That request simply can not be fulfilled at this point, my apologies." Jika responded," But this shall be no hindrance to our battle. It will be quite enjoyable to see a Pretty Cure fall so short of victory at my hands. Well, figuratively speaking at my hands. Now, let us begin."

Arithmetic breathed slowly, her eyes wider than ever as she took in her surroundings. She was very curious as to where the door of her choice had taken her and she wondered what the rest of her team was doing as of right now. An empty, noiseless room was where the door took her to and now all she could ponder was what was going to happen now.

She was about to conjure up her sword before she heard what sounded like Rishi saying,

"Oh good, I get the Math Cure."

Literature looked around the room she was transported into, anxiously awaiting for whatever she felt coming for her to just show up already. Whatever it was was beyond her and she protectively held her hands over her chest as she walked around the room. It was actually bright, but it felt like and resembled a cave with it's stony and jagged walls. The cave floor underneath her was a strange, near hypnotic grey-blue that was uneven and somewhat sparkly. As Literature walked across the floor of the cave, she stopped for a moment after seeing a figure from the corner of her eye.

Standing at the side of the room was Vice, appearing to have been awaiting her arrival as he slowly walked up to her and flickered out an indigo flame from his fingertips. Literature furrowed her brows at Vice and within a matter of seconds, Vice darted over to her.

Literature leapt out of the way just in time and stood on a small, broken pillar in the cave-like room as she took a few deep breaths. Vice dashed towards her again and impulsively, Literature sent a kick into his chest, causing him to fly a few feet or so away from her.

"I guess I'll have to go through you if I want to get to Temptasia huh?" Literature declared as she summoned her scepter. As she sprinted over towards Vice at full-speed with her scepter in hand, she heard a voice shriek out,

"Don't do it!"

Literature skidded to a stop and ducked just before Vice swung at her. Literature then spun her head around to find the Headmistress trapped inside a confinement sprouting from the side of the wall made of crystals.

Literature looked at the Headmistress in shock and could do nothing more than sputter out, "What are you doing here?"

Temptasia tricked me and brought me here, knowing it would be even harder to protect Univer Kingdom without the keeper of the book." The Headmistress explained," And now I'm telling you, don't do something you're going to regret."

"Regret? Regret what?" Literature asked in confusion as she swung her scepter around in her hand impatiently before looking over towards Vice," There's something I don't know about here isn't there?"

"Stay out of this Headmistress!" Vice commanded as he darted over towards Literature again. With the flick of her wrist, Literature sent a whirlwind full of hearts towards Vice before she tried to head over to the Headmistress and break her free. Vice evaded the attack ran for her and Literature yelped as he began launching more electrified indigo spheres towards her. As she ran, she reminded herself that she needed to get this over with quickly so she could finally face Temptasia. So, she stood tall and held the scepter up high before she transformed it into it's striker form as she locked her eyes onto Vice.

"Pretty Cure, Typhoon of Passion!" Literature cried out as she flung the arrow towards Vice. Vice simply caught it and the arrow crumbled into ash within his grip. Literature gritted her teeth and reverted the bow and arrow back into it's scepter form as she tried to figure out what to do.

Literature then shrugged as she made the scepter disappeared, deciding she was going to have to try some hand-to-hand combat if she wanted to get anywhere. Literature waited for Vice to make his move and within a few seconds, he bolted straight for her yet again and the two began to spar.

As they fought, the Headmistress watched the discourse with a wary look in her eyes, wishing that she didn't have to watch such a scene. But, Literature had to clear through Vice to Temptasia, that much the Headmistress was aware of, though, she would've never allowed Literature to do such a thing. The Headmistress hung her head in shame, feeling weak and helpless as she wondered how things had gotten out of control so quickly. She could feel her head begin to ache as feelings of regret came flooding into her as the fight dragged on. This was all her fault, she was the one who let the book fall into the hands of Temptation, she was the one who had sent innocent girls off to fight a force that could've very well destroyed them at this point if they willed it and she was the one who drove Vice into all this. How she did that last thing was something she was unsure of, but she knew deep down, she played a hand in Vice's decision to side with Temptation considering how malicious he had just been towards her. The Headmistress gripped the top of her dress tightly as averted her gaze from the fight, knowing that just telling Literature not to fight Vice wouldn't do her any good, despite being the ruler of Univer Kingdom.

So, she raised her head up and shouted at the top of her lungs," Jun, stop this right now!"

Just before Vice sent Literature flying to the other side of the room as he held her by the scruff of her dress, he glared at the Headmistress viciously while Literature just eyed her opponent curiously.

"Honestly, what is going on?" She muttered to herself.

Soon, History found herself fighting against Zephora, who soon proved herself to be quite a strong opponent. She was nimble and fast, not to mention she had quite a few tricks up her sleeves. History was visibly irritated with how long this fight was dragging on, as she had a team to reassemble with and of course she couldn't even hope to pass unless she cleared through Zephora. She conjured up her scepter seconds later and pointed it directly to Zephora shouting,

"Pretty Cure, Archaic Tremor!"

Her attack failed to reach Zephora in time as she leapt up high and landed on the far wall. History stood there and held onto her scepter as she gazed at Zephora curiously. Moments later, Zephora bent backwards and breathed out a gigantic blaze of fire that was able to reach History, well, would've reached History if she hadn't scrambled away to the corner of the room. History had her back against the wall, the fire had yet to die down as she stood there in thought of what she could do. When the fire diminished, Zephora flipped off from the wall and stood a few feet away from History, a wicked and unusually large smile on her face as she watched History try and weigh out her options.

"Surprised?" Zephora questioned with a smirk as History put on a brave face, though of course Zephora could tell she was growing fearful at a gradual but steady rate.

History then called out," Shape shift! Everlasting Staff!"

When the staff appeared in her hands, she held the staff out towards Zephora and shouted," Pretty Cure, Storming Legend!"

The attack failed to hit Zephora as she snapped her fingers, appearing in the little space between the wall and History that had been formed over those last few moments and kicked her in the back to her feet.

"What's this? Still in shock of my power? Astonished by how much stronger I am?" Zephora snickered as she materialized a deck of cards from her hands, glowering down at History. History glared at her furiously and backed up a few feet away as she stood up.

"Without your powers, you're nothing." History declared dauntingly as she arose," It would never be a challenge fighting you fairly."

"I know what you're trying to do~" Zephora stated in a singsong voice," You're trying to make me fight against you fairly because you think you'd stand a chance that way. A foolish thing to think if I do say so myself. Foolish because you think you could beat me without magic involved."

When Zephora snapped her fingers again, the two of them were entrapped in a house of cards large enough for them to fight within. The two of them fought long and hard, with History mainly throwing punches while Zephora threw the kicks. History's punches were all mostly landed, but she had been bruised up quite a bit since most of Zephora's attacks landed as well. It was strange how there attacks were almost in sync, being a few seconds away from each other. It felt unsettling to History, but she kept on going, knowing that if she exhausted Zephora of her energy here, she could just proceed to Temptasia and hopefully be reunited with her team again. Though, oddly enough, it seemed like the longer the fight dragged on, the more powerful Zephora's attacks became. She was growing faster, and her kicks became much more precise with each and every passing second. It was confusing to History and before she could even try to think of how that was possible, Zephora punched her in the face and caused her to get slammed into the sturdy walls of the card house.

History grunted as she was hit and glowered at Zephora enraged, taking deep breaths as she stared down her smug opponent.

"Why is it me? Why am I the one you have to resent so much?!" History as she swung at Zephora, hitting her in the face without a single trace of remorse. Zephora fell onto the ground, rubbing her face tenderly before she stood back up. She was still sporting that twisted, gallant smile on her face as she looked at History.

"I like to think we knew each other in a past life...A past life where you were the death of me." Zephora answered as she slammed History into the wall of the card house.

"What are you even talking about?" History questioned, sounding rather annoyed as she narrowed her eyes at Zephora.

"How about I tell you a little story about a woman who was chained to a life she didn't want? A life she was able to escape briefly before someone ended it for her out of spite?" Zephora inquired as she snapped her fingers again, resulting in the house of cards to fall apart.

Zephora chuckled, as she sent her charmed set of cards towards History, having them constrict her in to place and rendering her unable to move.

"There once was a noble teenaged girl named Splendora, who was always locked up in her room, where she couldn't go out and explore the disdainful, cruel world..."

Science was currently trying to break free from an imprisonment of numbers encircled around her. The numbers were weak and easy to destroy one by one but, they were quick to replenish as soon as one was broken down. Science sighed, feeling immensely frustrated as her eye twitched slightly. She decided that enough was enough and shouted out as she conjured out her scepter,

"Pretty Cure, Nebula Flash!"

Her attack was enough to have destroyed the encasement of numbers surroundings, but, once the encasement had broken apart leaving Science out in the open, she felt strange as if time had slowed down incredibly. Her breathing was slower than usual and she couldn't pace it to it's regular speed and she noticed that simply curling and uncurling her fingers into a fist became what felt like a hundred times longer than usual. It was abnormal and Science couldn't help but suspect that this cyber network had something to do with this.

"I think I may've overestimated your strengths." Jika noted as beams of light were getting shot towards Science.

Science tried dodging, but the dimension made her too slow to even try dodge and resulted in her getting hit a numerous amount of times by the beams directed right at her. The beams were immensely powerful as if charged with whatever malice Jika must've hold towards Science to commit this kind of brutality against her. Science tried standing back up, wincing away all the pain she was feeling as she tried doing so.

"This place...I can't even hope to get out of here at the rate I'm going." Science panted as she gripped her chest. An enormous digital clock that resembled the mask that Jika wore then appeared in front of Science, scaring her a bit as she backed away nervously.

"It brings me great joy knowing that I'll be able to terminate and delete you from existence shortly." Jika remarked as Science stared at her fearfully," I can make you age in the skeleton of your deceased self here in a matter of seconds, or I can replay everything that has just happened over and over again, with the damage of body being unable to reset back of course, which can lead to your defeat. In this place, it's absolutely impossible for you to win here. You're more likely to get out of here alive if you simply quit now."

Science hung her head for a moment before rising it back up as she shouted," There's no way I'm quitting after coming all this way!"

"Suit yourself." Jika retorted as she just started replaying the moment from earlier when she was shooting beams towards Science.

"I can't speed up, and even if I do, it won't be enough for me to dodge them..." Science griped as she took a deep breath before gritting her teeth," But I need to at least try something! If I don't win here, I won't be able to defeat Temptasia with my team and I won't be able save Minato and everyone and..."

Science exhaled a very deep breath, blinking for a few moments before standing up again.

"If there's hope for Rishi, there's hope for her too..." Science declared as she arose as quickly as she could, which would've been at a normal pace for her in the real world.

 _"I'm going to show her that I'm willing to help, that there's hope for her too no matter what!"_ Science thought to herself as she took on her fighting stance _," Even if it means I'll have to get hurt in the process..."_

Rishi sat on a platform floating up high in the room and with a snap of his fingers,three multi-coloured silhouettes with star-buns and twin-tails sprouting from their heads appeared in front of Arithmetic, looking very ready to fight.

"What's this, you aren't going to fight me yourself?" Arithmetic questioned brashly as she summoned her scepter out while the trio starting approaching her.

"Never been much of a fighter." Rishi answered as he scratched the back of his head.

Arithmetic shook her head and began fighting against the three silhouettes. They were agile and skilled fighters for the most part, not to mention they were all very in sync with each other, timing each attack just right so that Arithmetic couldn't even get a moment to stop and decide what to do next. It was just thoughtless attack after thoughtless attack driven by impulse as Arithmetic battled against the three of them. The silhouettes treated Arithmetic like some kind of play-thing as they threw her around like a rag-doll to each other. They were mute for the most part, not uttering a single word and would only laugh as Arithmetic was tossed around over and over again.

Arithmetic was getting tired of these towering figures throwing her around quickly, so she held her scepter up high and started spinning in the center of the cruel trio.

"Pretty Cure, Convulsion Blizzard!" She shouted, conjuring up a snowstorm that was strong enough to knock the silhouettes onto their feet. They seemed greatly annoyed with Arithmetic, who had just proved she was more than just a rag doll that could be thrown amongst them without a fight. They forced themselves to get serious about this and began attacking Arithmetic head on.

As Arithmetic continued to fight against the trio relentlessly, she couldn't help but ask Rishi," Any particular reason as to why I have to fight _this_ silhouette?"

"To mess with your mind." Rishi said absently as his thoughts trailed away to a more honest response," _Because if I can't see her right now, then I'll at least allow myself to have this much. Even if it's not the real thing."_

Arithmetic put on a determined expression and continued to fight against these three silhouettes that didn't seem to have been drained of any of their energy since the beginning of the battle. It was a little disheartening to see that this trio didn't even seemed the slightest bit exhausted after all of her efforts but, she knew she had to power through, she needed to get out of here anyways.

Arithmetic was thrown into the far wall by one of the silhouettes and gnashed her teeth together as she winced. This whole hand-to-hand combat thing wasn't working out for her, so she needed to try a better tactic for this. So, she ended up deciding to use her scepter to put an end to this unforgiving trio.

"Pretty Cure, Imperial Dendri-!" One of the silhouettes had grabbed her by the arm and threw her towards the other side of the room. Arithmetic sighed ad shook her head impatiently, dashing up towards the three and changing her scepter into it's sword form. The trio noticed the sword in Arithmetic's hand and changed their right forearms into swords to fight with Arithmetic. When Arithmetic came close enough to the three girls, the three of them began to fight against her again. Arithmetic seemed a whole lot more determined to finish these girls despite seeming unable to exhaust them at all. Arithmetic made sure each attack of her was precise and didn't waste a second to attack at every moment she was given.

But soon enough, she noticed that these silhouettes began to unintentionally spar with each other. So, she decided to take advantage of this and timed her attacks just right so that they would lead to the trio to increase the amounts of times they attacked each other. After a few more swings, Arithmetic was able to escape the fight and they began attacking each other, which ended up leading to them growing tired and depleted them of most of their energy. Just when they were almost completely exhausted of all of their strength, Arithmetic ran towards them, holding her scepter up high as she leapt up, yelling,  
"Pretty Cure, Calculating Meltdown!"

The four of them were transported into a blue and silver void where the three silhouettes were trapped inside a humongous plus sign.

"I sure hope this lesson will be sure to stick..." Arithmetic chanted as she swayed her scepter around, before pointing it directly before the three silhouettes,"...That lesson being, don't ever mess with me, Cure Arithmetic!"

The trio disappeared into thin air and Rishi rolled his eyes as he conjured up another trio for Arithmetic to fight against.

"It's not going to end that easily..." Rishi said under his breath with little interest as he watched Arithmetic fight against the silhouettes again," In fact, I don't think this will ever end at the rate she's going at."

Arithmetic growled as she stomped towards the trio her sword reverted back into it's scepter form as she pointed towards them," Pretty Cure, Imperial Dendrite!"

The trio was frozen in a thick glacier and just then, Arithmetic sliced the glacier into pieces, causing the silhouettes to disappear. Arithmetic then marched over towards Rishi with an unimpressed, aggravated look on her face.

"You're going to let me pass and you're going to point me in the direction of Tsubaki and then Temptasia." Arithmetic decreed in an imperative voice as she gripped her sword tightly.

"And what if I don't?" Rishi questioned flatly with his eyes narrowed.

"I don't think you wanna know what's going to happen in a scenario like that." Arithmetic answered as she inched closer towards him.

"Oh, she's threatening you." A figure on a screen that had appeared out of nowhere said to Rishi," What ever shall you do?"

"Make more silhouettes I guess." Rishi answered with a shrug.

"I don't think so." The voice responded indifferently," You're about to pay the price for not only neglecting the obligation of stabilizing your powers, but for...well, you know what you did."

Just then, Rishi found himself trapped in a cylinder that arose from the ground and he looked at the figure in the screen, finally realizing he wasn't talking to who he thought he was.

"I'm not dealing with Temptasia am I?" Rishi said between gritted teeth, feeling as if his body was getting morphed against his will.

"What's happening with him?" Arithmetic asked in a low voice as she watched the transformation occur.

Vice dropped Literature onto the ground, and glared over to the Headmistress. The Headmistress stared back at him, appearing almost infuriated with him within her confinement.

"Jun, how could you do such a thing like turn your back on not only us, but all of Univer City?" The Headmistress questioned as she heaved in each breath she took.

"You know the city doesn't care about me and my mom. They just think we're nuisances who had infiltrated your castle to overthrow you!" Vice shouted back.

"Nobody thinks that!" The Headmistress exasperated.

"That's what you think." Vice retorted bitterly before he continued his fight with Literature.

"Seriously, can I know what's going on between you too? Please?" Literature questioned with very little patience as she crossed her arms.

"Cure Literature, meet my step-brother, Jun." The Headmistress introduced," Who apparently goes by Vice these days. Jun, how could you side with this woman? Who wants nothing but to destroy Univer Kingdom, our home we've worked so hard to protect and rule?"

"You mean the home _you_ ruled." Vice corrected sourly as he tried to continue his fight with Literature, though she placed a hand in front of him, signaling him to wait as she wanted to hear this.

"What makes you think everyone believes that you and your mom are just nuisances who planned to overthrow the Headmistress?" Literature interrogated.

"You don't deserve an explanation." Vice responded impatiently.

"Well then, Headmistress, do you know why everyone thought the two of them were nuisance who wanted to overthrow you?" Literature called out to the Headmistress.

"They seemed suspicious to everyone, because his mother was a fortune teller who lived off of the mainland. She could only read bad fortunes from people so they gave her the nickname Miss Fortune. Everyone in the village there disliked her for how accurate her fortunes were, despite not having a say in what happened to them, only being able to foretell what would happen."

"Then her father came one day." Vice continued after he drew out a long sigh," And he wanted his fortune told. Mother said nothing more than he'd burn his tongue on hot tea and he thought that she was amazing. He asked her if he could visit again and after awhile, the two of them got close and he invited us to Univer City frequently. When our parents got married, there were many people who were against their marriage since we were just some no-names who weren't worthy of their trust especially because of my mom's reputation in our village."

"But then, people started to like the two of you." The Headmistress interrupted with a small smile on her face.

"They never liked us, it was all a ploy!" Vice snapped.

"No it wasn't! Jun, you won so many people over." The Headmistress responded, seeming a little upset in the fact that Vice wasn't believing her.

"I did no such thing." Vice stated as he rolled his eyes.

 _Years ago, Vice stood behind his mother shyly as she was the only thing standing between him and the man that she had been hanging out with for many weeks now. He had of course seen him before but, actually speaking to him was something he had yet to do. God, he was really tall. And beside him stood a girl who seemed to be about his age, her hair very dark brown, almost black and quite curly with tan skin._

 _"Anyways, I'd like you meet my son Jun." His mother introduced as she stepped aside and left Jun out in the open to be seen fully by the girl and her father. Her father, the Old King, grinned a large grin and stepped towards Jun, offering him a handshake._

 _"Pleasure to meet you lad!" The Old King beamed as he shook Jun's hand. His grip was pretty strong, strong enough for Jun's whole body to shake a little during the handshake," And I'd like you to meet..."_

 _"The name's Atarah and the pleasure's all mine." Atarah interrupted boldly as she did a quick bow and offered her hand. Jun looked at her hand nervously before offering his own hand. Jun realizing he had been staring too long and silently cursed himself for allowing himself to gaze at her hand for such a prolonged amount of time._

 _"Shoot, now she's going to think I'm a weirdo..." Jun thought to himself scornfully as he shook her hand. But when he looked up to her, all she did was smile to him. The smile was a little off-putting to Jun, but overall it felt genuine and kind and made Jun feel a little less tense._

 _Years later, after the two of them got married and when the Old King was ready to retire and step down as ruler of Univer Kingdom, he was forced to choose between Atarah and Jun to figure who would rule. Jun liked the idea of ruling a Kingdom that he had to grown to fall in love with after so many years of being here, he liked feeling like he was a part of something bigger. But, it was up to the Old King to decide who would be his successor._

 _So, to show his step-father that he was fit to rule Univer, he worked on accomplishing and completing all the prerequisites that came with succeeding the Headmaster of Univer._

 _The first thing needed in order to succeed the Headmaster: Be diligent, dexterous and resolute._

 _Of course, if you wanted to rule a land where knowledge and the cultivation of it was one of the most valuable things ever, you had to do your work and study as hard as you can. You have to knowledgeable on every subject taught, though being a little more more knowledgeable on a particular subject wasn't much of an issue. Lucky for Jun, his strong suit was Math so everything else would prove itself easy enough. But researching and studying had been time-consuming and the thought of having to teach a class of elementary children, fifth graders to be exact, and to teach a class of third-years in high-school the next day was something that worried Jun greatly. But, he continued to work hard no matter what. If he wanted to be the next Headmaster, he had to at least try and go past the boundaries he had preset for himself, just this once._

 _After those days went by, Jun believing he was successful during both days, he had to focus on working on the next prerequisite: Be responsible and just. Be the ruler who knows better than to see things as just black and white._

 _That was easy for Jun and there wasn't much to it since the Old King would've known that both of his potential successors were fully capable of this, having raised the two of them himself._

 _The final prerequisite was to know that as a ruler, you were not only a leader to your people, but a companion as well. After all, a good leader would only breed more leaders rather than followers. This was another prerequisite that went without trial as the Old King knew his kids well enough to know how good of leaders they really were._

 _Soon enough, the day to decide who the Old King's successor would be came, and Jun had never felt so nervous about anything in his life._

 _On the large balcony of the palace him and Atarah stood, both dressed in their finest attire as they stood before the crowd. Atarah seemed relaxed and joyous as she waved to the crowd below them, Jun following suit after awkwardly._

 _The Old King and his mother stood on the far end in the corner of the balcony. For once, his mother was actually wearing something formal for a formal event so clearly, today must've meant a lot to her as one of her own was about to become the next Headmaster or Headmistress of Univer Kingdom. This was it, all he had been working towards, all of that hard work, it was going to pay off today. He did everything in his power to make himself fit the mold of the next Headmaster and now, his moment to shine...it was finally here. Well, he believed his time had come. Jun zoned out for a few moments as he thought about what would transpire in the next few moments. Atarah noticed this soon and tugged on his shirt's sleeve to snap him back to earth._

 _"Everything alright?" She asked him in a slightly concerned voice. Jun nodded attentively and Atarah smiled turning her gaze back onto the crowd._

 _"Today is a special day as you all know." The Old King declared as he stood between Atarah and Jun," Today is the day I will announce my successor as my role of Headmaster in Univer Kingdom!"_

 _"Here it comes..." Jun thought to himself, his throat feeling as if it was about to close on him._

 _"...And so, after hours upon hours of trying to decide which of my children would take over my role of Headmaster, I had finally come to a decision." The Old King began," So, without without further ado, I hereby declare..."_

 _The Old King then held up Atarah's hand up high," Atarah to succeed me as the next Headmaster, or rather, Headmistress!"_

 _Jun blanked out as he heard that, everything almost went blank for him as he got in too deep within his own thoughts. He couldn't hear the crowd cheering for Atarah, he couldn't hear Atarah's little speech to her citizens of how she would uphold tradition and become a wonderful ruler like her father. He just stood there helplessly during the whole thing, worlds away in his own mind._

 _When the announcing event was over, Jun's mother walked over to him, a look of concern on her face as she said," Do you want to talk about it?"_

 _"Later." Jun responded tonelessly as he walked out of the palace._

 _He ambled out, unaware of all the stares he was attracting, but if there was one thing he wouldn't fail to notice on his way out of the palace, it was the whispers of others who weren't mindful of how loud they were as they said Jun's name._

 _Jun pretended to ignore them, he pretended these stares and whispers didn't bother him in the slightest, pretended that he was perfectly fine with being stared at as if he were a threat of some sorts._

 _Without any concern in what direction he was going, Jun found himself on a small hill with an even smaller forest underneath it. It was quiet here, free of whispers and glares from civilians whom he believed to have won over. It was calming just to be here all by himself where he didn't have to deal with anyone from the kingdom._

 _"It's not possible..." Jun said as he looked down towards the forest below him," Atarah's terrible at Science, she can barely draw a Bohr model without misplacing the electrons. Was she studying as hard as I was? Or, did Dad let it slide because she had a blood relation to him? But, he did say it was fair game so maybe it wasn't his idea to let Atarah rule but rather..."_

 _Jun's mind went back to the civilians and all of those whispers and glares, as if he couldn't be trusted. That couldn't have been all in his head, could it? Had nothing changed after all these years had past since his mother married the Old King?_

 _As Jun stood there in solitude, he felt someone appear from behind him though he hadn't heard footsteps coming towards him._

 _"Who's there?" Jun asked as he spun around, finding a woman with snow white hair and maroon eyes sitting at the top of a tree. Her hair had been cut to her chin and she wore a simple pair of grey knee-length tights and a dark red shirt._

 _"Isn't it dangerous for you to be out here all by yourself?" The woman asked in a playfully devious tone as she leapt off from the tree and walked towards Jun._

 _Jun took a step back protectively as the woman inched further towards him as she remarked," Hm, you look rather familiar, but I can't put a name to you... Wait, I know who you are! You're the Headmaster's step-son! And that means you're one of his potential successors! So, how'd it go today? Did you become Headmaster?"_

 _Jun turned his back on her and the woman simply said," Judging by the fact that you're all the way out here when you should've been celebrating, I take it as a no. I guess when compared to your sister, you just don't matter in the eyes of your step-dad. You're like a, like a...Vice-principal to your sister, second place."_

 _Jun rolled his eyes, walking past the woman as he said," I have better things to do than to be talked down by someone I don't even know."_

 _"But, I don't think you deserved that." The woman stated, causing Jun to stop in his tracks," I think you deserve much better."_

 _The woman smiled as she walked towards Jun, leaning close to his ear as she asked," How would you like to join me on an adventure? A life-changing adventure."_

 _"What are you talking about?" Jun questioned as turned to face the woman as he took yet another step away from her._

 _"These people here...they don't respect you, they don't care about you. Haven't they made it obvious? You have no need to stay here just to be their object of scorn." The woman claimed," What you need, is to prove them wrong and exceed their expectations of you. You can do this if you come with me, I can make you something better than a measly Headmaster."_

 _"What's better than being Headmaster?" Jun asked suspiciously with an arched eyebrow._

 _"A King of course." The woman said as she leaned in closer," Besides, what a Headmaster to a King? So, what do you say?"_

 _The tempting words were driving Jun mad and impulsive and without any further questions asked he said," I'll do it."_

"How could you've been so...so foolish to follow Temptasia?" The Headmistress chided angrily at Vice.

"Because, there was no point in lingering in Univer when everyone was waiting for my downfall." Vice declared. Just then, the Headmistress was broken free from the crystal imprisonment when an arrow had been shot into it.

Literature had shot the arrow from behind Vice and now the Headmistress was storming up to him angrily having been broken free from the imprisonment.

"Why I oughta..." The Headmistress began furiously as she stomped over to Vice, who tried to form those indigo spheres from before, but was having major difficulties as he looked at his sister.

When the Headmistress came close enough to him, she hugged him tightly, surprising both him and Literature.

"I can't change the way you feel about people, and I can't change the opinions of the hard-headed members of our Kingdom but Jun, please know...I'm still on your side, no matter what." The Headmistress declared.

Vice's lip quivered and he pushed her away, shouting," You're willing to overlook all of this? Everything I've done? Why, don't you care of what everyone from Univer would think of you? What kind of leader would you be if you forgave someone like me?!"

"The leader that I want to be; the leader that is forgiving, humble and kind and will understand that just because she can't see someone's grieving, doesn't mean it's not there." The Headmistress answered," I knew this meant a lot to you, I still regret not going to see if you were ok after that day when you clearly were not. And-"

"It doesn't matter, things can't reversed now. I can't ever go back to Univer like this. I just proved all those people who didn't believe in me that they were right. That I'm nothing but a nuisance."

"Um, excuse me~?" Literature squeaked from behind Vice," I think you're being too hard on yourself. And I think when we get insecure about things, we get more distrustful of others, so maybe you don't think you're a good leader but I think there's still hope for you. After all, a good leader is someone who is willing to admit they've made a mistake and are willing to learn from them."

"Jun, nobody hates you at Univer, and if they were people did, do they really matter in the grand scheme of things? You know, I didn't even think that I was going to become Headmistress, you were that great. In fact, I was ready to count myself out before I even tried. But then, I kept seeing you trying to study and better yourself because you wanted this badly and I thought, if he's trying this hard, shouldn't I be doing the same? When I got announce to be Headmistress I was of course, overjoyed to know all my efforts had paid off, but then, I wondered if I really wanted to rule like this, as one person. I wanted to co-rule with you, because I knew how much this meant to you and how you were more deserving of the title."

"You can't honestly believe that I...that, people are still thinking well of me..." Vice responded.

"Everyone's actually greatly worried about you, myself included." The Headmistress declared, as she gave Vice a look of sympathy.

Vice replied shakily,"I...I'm just not good enough. I've violated the most important rules of Univer and I, I went so far as to helping an enemy steal the book and I-"

"Jun, none of us can't change or continue to brood over what you've done. But that doesn't mean we should give up on you when you've displayed this much regret in your actions so, please...let's stop Temptasia together, once and for all." The Headmistress begged.

Vice then looked over to Literature, who nodded vigorously in response and he said,

"I hope this will work..."

Literature and Headmistress seemed ecstatic and just then, Vice pulled a necklace out from under his shirt and gave it to Literature.

"Um, what's this?" Literature asked as she looked at the necklace that sported two pendants.

"One of them is the Scholastic power-up key for your fellow Cures, Cure Arithmetic and Science. The other is the key to get to and rescue your friend. You know, the one that I..." Vice trailed off uncertainly.

Literature's eyes widened immediately and noticed two doors at the far corner of the room. Vice pointed to the one on the right and Literature dashed towards it.

 _When I was young and alive, I was always kept in my room and my parents made all my decisions, from what I wore, to what I wanted for breakfast to who I could be friends with. It was always like and I never did enjoy living my life in such a predetermined way. It was so boring, tragic even, to live my days in such a plain, boring way. I hated it so much, I abhorred pretty much everything about my life. Especially when my father brought boys over in hopes that I'd be willing to make friends with and potentially marry. I didn't even like men to begin with._

 _One day, we were walking through the marketplace and during our visit there, I found a table with amulets and card decks run by a peculiar man. He appeared to be in his late thirties, with somewhat dark skin and eyes. The man at the table smiled at me and I pretended to have been unimpressed with his table so I wouldn't get my father suspicious. When we walked past the table and were finished browsing in the marketplace, we were just about to leave to go home but just then, the wind pulled my hat off of my head and I had to run for it, leaving my dad standing by himself._

 _I found my hat laying at the table where the man selling the amulets and cards was and he simply smiled at me. I've always considered that one of my more fateful encounters and after that, he offered to show me a card trick and he held out an amulet to me. I hesitantly took the amulet and I told him I couldn't though, as I didn't want my father coming back to see talking to him. We exchanged and I found out his name was Cecil and he then asked if I'd be willing to come another time and all I said was "Maybe"._

 _When we got home, Elliot came for a visit shortly after. Elliot is a boy who's a few years older than me who my father wants me to befriend, but have no interest whatsoever in making friends with him. He's sexist, rude and barely makes an effort to hold a conversation without saying something intolerable._

 _"So, how's it going?" Elliot asked uninterested as he picked at his collar._

 _"Fine." I answered flatly, not even looking him in the eye._

 _That was entire conversation, he didn't even want to put in the effort anymore, knowing he'd somehow get on my nerves._

 _When the hour was over, Elliot left and then, I was taken up to her room. My father requested that I work on studying but for now, I was too invested in the amulet to listen to him. Maybe I should go to see Cecil again I thought to myself. But, i would've rather gone by myself since my time with Cecil would've been very limited if I was just strolling through the market with my father. I had to think of something else to tell my father so that I could go by myself._

 _Lucky for me, I figured just what I could tell him so that he would allow me permission to leave home by myself. I have no shame in admitting it felt good to lie, considering my life had been so lack-luster up until now._

 _"Pleasure to see you again Miss Splendora!" Cecil greeted when I arrived at his table days later," Ready for a card trick?"_

 _I nodded hesitantly and Cecil then plucked three cards from a deck in his hand. He showed me the three cards and told me to remember what the card in the middle was. I nodded and did as told. Cecil slowly placed the cards onto table and when he flipped the card in the center, he asked me,_

 _"Was this the card?"_

 _My eyes were wide with pure shock and I'm pretty sure I left my mouth agape as I looked at the card in the center. Did that just happen? I was at a loss of words and Cecil just smiled at me. He asked me if I'd like to see another and I nodded quickly, just to see that again. When he finished performing the second trick, leaving me just as amazed as before, I asked him how he did that and impulsively if he could teach me. Strangely enough, he agreed._

 _This was all quite suspicious, since any normal man would've told me no, since no one would likely want to teach some spectator, much less a girl, their tricks. But, no user of magic was ever really normal were they?_

 _Soon, I started visiting frequently, as often as I could without raising father's suspicions. I just couldn't explain what it was about magic that just drew me in. It was enticing and mesmerizing to me, it finally gave me a reason to enjoy life. It was complex, it was strange and it was something father would never in a million years approve of. Sometimes, I wasn't sure where the thrill of seeing and learning magic came from as it was either the magic itself or doing something that would get me in trouble. The need to finally do something that I wanted to do had been fulfilled and all it took for me to lie to father saying I felt the undying need to go to church to repent and ask for forgiveness for being such a disappointing, ungrateful daughter._

 _This charade went on for months and I'm still wondering how I was able to keep up with these games I was running with my father. The thought of being caught crossed my mind many times, but the idea of keeping myself away from magic at this point on account of the risk of getting caught and having to return a dull life was what kept me going. Living what was almost double-lives was tricky, but I managed just fine._

 _How was it that I could only feel happy in the presence of something my father would never accept? Maybe it was foolish of me to continue with these lessons, but, I reached a point where I wondered, what else did I have to live for? Maybe my infatuation with magic was strange but...I didn't care. I liked that exhilarated feeling I got when I did a card trick right or watched Cecil preform his own trick. Magic gave my life colour, maybe even meaning as well._

 _I reached a point in time where these lessons were invading my thoughts away from Cecil and it was like magic was consuming my life. Not as if I had a problem with it of course._

 _"You know, you're quite talented, what if you became a magician?" Cecil asked as I preformed a card trick._

 _"Me? A magician?" I repeated with a little scoff," I don't know, it sounds wonderful but...my father would have my head."_

 _"You could go by a stage name," Cecil suggested as I put on a hat in the tent behind his table," How does Zephyr the Excellent sound?"_

 _I wondered why he decided on the name Zephyr before the reason came to me,"It's quite nice."_

 _Fate's cruel, because after that walk from home, I have absolutely no memories of what else had happened during my past life. I do remember quite well that I was becoming a little careless in hiding my secret, so of course, somebody must've figured out, perhaps. But who could it have been to have ended it all for me?_

 _I have my suspicions. And most things point back to Elliot, who seemed unusually pleasant during our final few visits._

"Now do you see why things are better off like this?" Zephora questioned," When there are no Inner Scholars, nothing of the sort and we can live like this. Where no one's going to get hurt hiding things or living in secret."

"I'll admit, your story is a sad one indeed, but, it doesn't give you the right to decide the fate of everyone else!" History shouted back," Think about it! If we let the world stay like under Temptasia's reign, no one gets to experience what you felt when you practiced magic ever again! Do you really want that to happen?"

Zephora threw a mass of cards towards History, cards that were so sharp they started to rip at her clothes upon contact.

"It doesn't concern me, as long as I have no part in it, it doesn't bother me in the slightest." Zephora responded as History chased after her.

History held her scepter out before Zephora, declaring," You helped the woman who caused all this, you brought this despair upon innocent people and you're going to regret that you ever did when I'm through with you!"

"Why did I waste my breath on you?" Zephora said under her breath," You obviously have no idea what it's like to have something taken away from you. To have to live separate to please others, you don't know what's like to live to please everyone in sight because no one will accept you for who you really are!"

History stood there silently, her whole body trembling as she hung her head.

"You're wrong..." History began as she lifted her head up," You have no idea how wrong you are... who do you think you're talking to? I had to keep _all of this_ a secret for months now! And not only that, I've had to push my own interests to the side because of the fact that everyone belittled me for it. I've been met with the temptation to just give things knowing very well what could happened if I fail, but...I've had the support of others and, I'm sorry you didn't have enough of that during your past life."

"What?" Zephora questioned as she stood on the side of the wall again.

"You lived in a time where you wanting to be free and live your life the way you wanted wasn't accepted and you couldn't do anything about it. I admire that you did sneak out for those lessons for the sake of your happiness but...what you're doing right now, won't ever bring you justice."

Zephora leapt off of the wall, and starting walking towards History, conjuring up a pair of fireballs in each hand as she said," I don't need your pity, I'm not trying to make you feel sorry for me. I'm trying to show you that this world will still prevail in being a cruel place that'll screw you over no matter how good of a person you are. This world doesn't know balance, it only knows misfortune and how to toy with people to the point where they can no longer tell wrong from right. Why are you fighting so hard when you're the most level-headed of all your team? You didn't even want to be a Pretty Cure to begin with."

"That may be true but, that all changed when I saw Literature and Arithmetic risking their lives for the sake of everyone else and I knew, much worse could've happened than a destroyed museum if I didn't join their team. Everyone from Univer is counting on us, and we can't let them down!" History shouted as she pointed her scepter towards Zephora," Pretty Cure, Archaic Tremor!"

"Well, it'll be a shame when you do!" Zephora yelled back as she leapt up, throwing the pair of fireballs towards History.

"Pretty Cure, Archaic Blaze!" History shouted, sending a flash fire towards the fireballs, hurting both Zephora and herself in the process," No, we aren't going to fail and you know what? I'm through with this pure resentment, it isn't getting me anywhere."

"What are you talking about?" Zephora sneered as History put away her scepter.

"Nobody deserves to have had their life cut short just when it was getting good and you're no exception. But I can't change things and I can't let Temptasia reign any longer." History declared as she turned her scepter into it's staff form.

Zephora created a ring of fire around History as she shouted," If I've learned anything from being reborn, it's that getting your hopes up and having them crushed is far worse than having no hope at all!"

"I won't stand for it, knowing that it's hope that gets me through each and every day. I may get beaten over and over again by Temptasia who may see me as weak in her eyes but I'll keep trying to end her reign no matter what. And no matter what happens I'll continue to rise." History declared as she leapt out from the ring as struck Zephora with a thunderstorm from her staff.

She literally shocked Zephora and she looked at her fried opponent, trying to decide on what she could do next. She looked at her staff and a thought crossed her mind, but she wasn't sure if she should've gone through with it or not.

History took a deep breath and held her scepter up high as she yelled," Pretty Cure, Immortal Chronicle!"

The two of them were now inside a void of yellow and gold and History then chanted, "Once time has past this shall just a memory and by then, my friend...you will be history!"

"Why would you do such a thing?" Zephora questioned as she laid on the ground," Things were better like this, where no one had to get hurt or had to get their hopes get dashed. You're just being selfish by trying to restore things to the way they once were!"

"You're the one being selfish." History responded as she watched Zephora slowly begin to disappear," Everyone should be allowed to live their lives the way they want to shouldn't they? And while some might get hurt and others would get hopes dashed, would it really be any better to live in a world where Temptasia is the leader?"

Zephora stayed silent until she said," What if their lives get cut short like mine? What if the world falls to shambles after you defeat Temptasia? Is that a risk you want to take? Right now, nothing unexpected can happen and it will stay that way as long as Temptasia reigns! What if you have to arise as Pretty Cure against an even stronger rival?"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." History answered solemnly.

"With those stern, indifferent hazel eyes of yours, you've always reminded me of Elliot. No wonder I disliked you as much as I did." Zephora remarked," But, don't think defeating Temptasia will be any easier once you reunite with your team. I'm trying to tell you it can't be done."

"We'll see about that." History stated before Zephora fully disappeared, leaving a pair of keys before the Cure clad in yellow.

"These must lead to the exit out of here..."

Science was more than determined at this point to try and help Jika, but Jika just wouldn't listen! She was too busy trying to replay the scene of Science getting shot with those beams of light to pay any attention to what she had to say. But Science absolutely refused to give up, having come this far, she couldn't let Jika win.

"You're making things much more harder than they need to be. All that's required of you at this point is to just give in, there's nothing you can do to leave this place without admitting defeat." Jika said flatly.

"I keep telling you, I'm going to get out of here and I'm going to defeat Temptasia and save Minato, along with everyone else!" Science insisted as she tried dodging the beams with little avail.

"What's the point in doing all that? It's not like your life's going to all of a sudden become any better after all this. Things will go back to the way they once were, and you'll be stuck living with the same old hardships and making the same old mistakes as time passes you by. You're going to wish you _never_ won against us if do because you'd be stuck living the life of a bitter adult! And aren't you the same girl who'd rather have things stay the same and have your problems just work themselves out? Think about it, if you win here, you're stuck graduation and you'll have to grow up and watch life pass you by because I don't like admitting this, but, once you get out of high-school, play-time's over." Jika declared.

A clock then appeared in front of Science and the hands around it began spinning at an insanely rapid rate, causing Science to age just as quickly.

"You can never ever make up for time wasted and soon, the mistakes and errors begin to pile up. Trust me, there's going to come a time when you realized you aren't ever going to relish in those moments you had as a teenager, and regret's going to eat you alive. But of course, there's always a fate worse than death and that's drowning in regret."

As Science's body to began to age into it's forties, Science kicked the clock in front of her so hard she cracked it in half, causing her body to revert to it's current age.

"Regrets are just nothing more than lessons to learn from." Science declared as she mustered as much strength as she could to run towards the larger clock in the room that had resembled Jika's mask.

"And if we were to just regret and look back on times we want to go back to, wouldn't just be wasting time that could've been spent making even better memories?" Science questioned, feeling rather light-headed after running at such a speed, summoning her scepter.

"Yeah, I'll admit, I've been looking back on those memories of those days where it was me, Minato and the stars. I've been wanting to go back to a simpler time ever since this last year of high-school started. But, when I think about it realistically, I don't think I would want to go back now. If I went back to those days, I wouldn't ever get to spend time with the friends I made now. I won't be able to see how far I've come, and how much farther I have yet to come." Science declared as she held her scepter tightly.

"Pretty Cure, Nebula Flash!" Science yelled as she sent an array of little planets and stars towards the beams of light charging towards her again.

"Fine, so you can discharge a few beams with your scepter, but that's the most you'll be able to do here." Jika smirked.

Science pursed her lips, knowing that Jika was right, so she tried focusing on something else, anything, that she could do to escape.

Science's eyes widened when she figured something out and she took a deep breath as she concentrated.

"No doubt about it, for some reason...the room had been emitting the same aura the Delinquouses had always been carrying. So, with that logic, maybe, just maybe, purifying it would've been her only way out. But, where was she supposed to direct her attack?

One final deep breath and Science pointed her scepter in front of the gigantic clock before her and shouted," Pretty Cure, Brilliant Supernova!"

The clock and her were sent away in a void of violet and silver and while she still seemed a little hesitant she went through with her attack.

"What? You think your stupid purifying attack is going to work on me?" Jika snickered as Science looked at unsurely.

"In a few a few moments you'll no longer be a being of defiance and when that rejoice-worthy time comes..." Science then tossed her scepter her scepter up into the air and pointed it at the Delinquous," You can thank me, Cure Science!"

When she had completed her attack, the room was changed back to normal, well, almost normal considering it was all dark in here. It appeared to be a classroom.

"What happened to-?" Science asked before she saw Jika lying on the other side of the room. She dashed to her side and Jika didn't even move an inch as Science appeared next to her.

"Jika..." Science said quietly, before she noticed Jika beginning to stir. During this time, Science noticed there was cuckoo clock birds sprung out from her arms and a stop-watch on her right shoulder.

"That's it, it's over for me." Jika said somberly as she sat up," My time's run out."

"N-no, there's still...We could fix this! Jika, I want to try and do something to help because, I don't think you're a bad person and-"

"It's a little too late for any fixing I'm afraid." Jika interrupted," Though, I might've like to stay a little longer, just to find out if those dreams I had in my head really were the memories from a past life. Because I'm still wondering if I was ever a real person."

"What?" Was all Science could say.

"A little while ago, I fell asleep and I lived through the memories of some popular girl who's life was cut short." Jika explained," I'd like to think that it was my previous life I was viewing but then, I did the other one thing Temptasia told me not to do and..."

Jika removed the mask off of her face, revealing a sundial without the blade," Maybe Zephora was right, maybe I was really just scrap metal from a crazy clock. Maybe I never existed, or rather, Asami Yuzuki, never existed."

"But...but, you had to have, considering you- Wait, that name!" Science's eyes widened in surprise," No, you were a real person, you really were! I mean, I don't know much about your life, but I've met your mom and she's a really nice lady. Seems a little sad, granted you've been missing for awhile now and-"

"You mean to say, those memories were real? That I actually once walked the face of the earth as a regular human girl? That those visions I had weren't some sort of ploy from Temptasia?" Jika inquired, with Science nodding rapidly in response.

Jika then noticed her body beginning to crumble away as she said," Well, that's reward enough for me at this point. At least now I know, I did live a life without regrets, despite the fact it may've ended shorter than hoped for."

Jika then handed her a key and said," This will lead you to the exit and to your friend. Now do the world a favour and put an end to Temptasia's reign."

Science nodded, feeling herself tear up a bit as Jika disappeared for good.

Arithmetic looked at her, 'reborn' opponent who looked nothing like his former self. Now, he had taken on a more monstrous form, his skin green, slimy even and had a toxic sign on the center of his stomach. His eyes hadn't any irises and he wore a twisted smile as he punched the wall beside him, melting it down completely in the process. Arithmetic seemed nervous as he dashed up to her, melting away the rest of the wall while he dragged his hand against it. Arithmetic took a few more steps back and once he got closer, she shrieked and ran for life.

"Damn it Arithmetic, you aren't supposed to be running away like this!" She scolded to herself," But, if his touch can now do that to a whole wall, imagine what's it going to do you..."

This 'fight' ensued for much longer than Arithmetic intended, so she did do everything in her power to put up a good enough fight without coming in contact with him.

"P-pretty Cure, Convulsion Blizzard!" Arithmetic shouted as she sent a swirling blizzard towards Rishi. All he had to do was ooze into a puddle to dodge the attack and reform his shape once the blizzard ended. Of course, he had been left unscathed after all of his attacks and Arithmetic was beginning to not only worry about herself, but him too.

"It's weird..." Arithmetic said as she took a large gulp," He didn't even seem interested in fighting at the beginning of this. Like he was too busy worrying over something else."

She continued to run and she watched as Rishi was gaining on her. This all looked like a game of tag gone wrong as he extended his hand close to her, which was the last thing she wanted knowing what that would result in. But, he reached close enough to touch the elastic that held Arithmetic's bun together, causing her bun to fall apart as she ran from him. When she got cornered into a wall, she transformed her scepter into it's sword form and looked at Rishi nervously.

"There's no doubt about it, he's being controlled..." Arithmetic panted," But, controlled or not, heaven knows what'll happen if I try using this thing on him. I have a bad feeling that he just going to melt it away with that toxic touch of his. But, there's nothing I can do!"

Arithmetic continued breathing heavily as she tried to think, leaning against the wall with her heart racing," Just because I can't do anything about him, doesn't mean someone else can't right? I don't need to defeat him, I need to bring the old Rishi back, as it seemed he wasn't to keen on fighting in the first place. But, I can't even think of anyone who could reach out to him!"

Rishi was cornering her and out of pure fear, Arithmetic screamed," Sword of Algorithm, put yourself to good use and show him the person he wants to see most!"

And just then, Science appeared in the room, between Arithmetic and Rishi.

"I...what happened?" Science asked as she looked down to the ground," I really can't be here, I haven't even got the lock open to get to Temptasia and-! Arithmetic and..."

Science's heart dropped as she looked at Rishi, not even needing an explanation or indication as to who it was before her, she just knew. Science took a large gulp and bit her lip, looking towards Arithmetic, who still wasn't comprehending why the sword had brought her.

"What happened to you?" Science asked uneasily as she looked at Rishi, who cautiously took a step back.

Science hung her head for a moment, before she turned to Arithmetic and said in a grave voice," It's no longer about defeating them, it's saving them from becoming what they're not."

For a moment, Arithmetic wasn't viewing Science as the girl she had known for so long; she seemed oddly foreign all of a sudden.

The Cure clad in blue nodded attentively and sputtered out," Be careful, he's got quite the touch."

"I know." Science responded as she bit her lip.

Rishi took a few more steps back protectively as Science slowly walked towards him. Of course, he did recognize her, but he also recognized how deadly his touch was now and how he wasn't able to control his powers anymore. Science continued to approach him and that distressed him greatly, as he knew what he could do if he let himself get in contact with her. But then, what ever it was that had been controlling him had taken over again and he oozed into a puddle as Science ran for him, not being sure of where he went.

"Where did he-?"

"Science, watch out!" Arithmetic yelled as he reshaped himself behind her. Science spun around and leapt upwards as she tried to think of something she could do. When she landed, she held out her scepter as a means of getting him to stay clear of her for a few moments as she tried to think.

"Even when he's all slimey I don't have it in me to hurt him..." Science sighed to herself," But, I don't have to hurt him...and I'm not going to."

Science wore a look of patience and determination as she walked up towards Rishi, who seemed ready to fight, though Science could see that he wavering as he turned his head away from her.

"Strange, your body language is saying, don't mess with me but your eyes are saying save me." Science remarked softly as she shook her head. Rishi shook his head apprehensively and his fingers itched to grip something, anything, as Science drew closer. All he wanted was for her to keep away from him, but it seemed his efforts were fruitless as she walked fearlessly towards him. He hung his head and the uncontrollable side returned as she came closer. He then emitted neon green, sludge-like, spheres from his palms and they all bounced off the walls of the room.

Arithmetic wanted to tell Science to watch out, but she couldn't find her voice as Science walked towards him. Though frantic, Rishi continued to emit those spheres from his palms, trying to get Science to just retreat. But Science refused to turn back, summoning her scepter and holding it high as one of the spheres came flying towards her.

"Pretty Cure, Nebula Flash!" She shouted, subduing all the spheres that had been bouncing off of the walls. Science surprised both Arithmetic and Rishi as she did that, continuing to walk up towards him, a determined, adamant look appearing on her face as she walked closer.

Rishi was scared he was going to lose control again, but as Science was only a few feet away from him, she held her hand out to him, holding her scepter out and forming a lilac, starry, sphere around herself. Rishi seemed suspicious.

"You know I wouldn't ever want to hurt you." Science reminded him. Rishi still seemed very hesitant as he looked at her hand. He drew it close to her for a moment, but retracted it just as quickly.

So then, Science reached out to him instead, with Rishi pulling back even farther and Arithmetic forcing herself to shout at Science," What do you think you're doing?!"

When Science grabbed his hand, she astonished everyone in the room as her hand didn't melt or anything when in contact with him.

"Just as I thought." Science said with a smile," It's only when _he_ touches something will something dissolve. There's still hope for him."

"Cure Arithmetic." Science called out, her back still turned to Arithmetic with her eyes closed," You know what to do right?"

Arithmetic offered her a look of question, before looking towards her sword and finally figuring out what she meant. Arithmetic darted up towards the two of them, and reverted her sword back into it's scepter form.

"Stand back." Arithmetic instructed to Science, who complied without question.

"Pretty Cure, Calculating Meltdown!" Arithmetic yelled, transporting the two of them into a void of blue and silver.

"I sure hope this lesson will be sure to stick..." Arithmetic chanted as she swayed her scepter around, before pointing it directly before Rishi who was kneeling on the ground,"...That lesson being, don't ever mess with me, Cure Arithmetic!"

When the area around them turned to normal, Science had disappeared, her work here being done and Arithmetic was left looking at Rishi, now turned to normal except he was crumbling away, glitching out, and fading away all at the same time before him.

Arithmetic was at a loss of words and all she could say was,"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I had it coming." Rishi said with a shrug as he looked at his hand that was glitching out violently on him.

"Um, what was going on between you and Science?" Arithmetic asked cautiously as she neared towards Rishi.

"That I'll let her explain." Rishi replied with a small smirk," Speaking of Science, do you think you give this to her for me? Also, this is to get you out of here."

Rishi then reached into what was left of the pocket of his pants and gave her a star-shaped locket, along with a key.

"You really weren't as bad as I thought you were..." Arithmetic remarked as she looked at the locket in her hands," But, are you sure you can't tell me anything about what was going between you two? Anything at all?"

"Let's just say she meant the world to me." Rishi answered before he fully disappeared.


	36. Graduation

Literature looked down at the pair of keys in her hands, taking a deep breath to calm herself down as she stared at them. She then nodded to no one in particular and before she was going to head to the door where Nao was, she turned to the Headmistress and Jun, saying,

"I hope this wouldn't be too much to ask for but, do you think it'd possible for you two to look for Renny, Topher and Xan for me? I'm really worried about them and haven't seen them since we entered the false realities."

Jun then responded, "But, what about-?"

"Absolutely." The Headmistress said as she motioned Jun to lead the two of them out of here. Jun sighed and formed a door in front of the two of them and they both exited while saying "Good luck" to Literature. Literature covered her mouth with her hand, feeling her heart starting to accelerate all over again. She took one last deep breath and walked towards the door where Nao assumingly was. As she walked towards the door, Lia appeared from within her. Literature eyed her suspiciously, having not summoned her but chose against questioning why she appeared all of a sudden.

When she opened the once-locked door, she walked in very quietly and found Nao laying against a low platform made of stone. The room was pretty much dimly-lit for the most part, being illuminated by no more than a few candles around the room. The room itself gave Literature an unsettling atmosphere, but laying eyes on Nao made her face redden greatly.

"Not now." Literature said to herself as she rubbed her cheeks violently, hoping that would make them less red. Before she walked over to Nao, she saw a grey sphere resting inside a hallowed out spot in the center of the room. She walked over to the grey sphere cautiously and found Haku resting inside out it, sound asleep.

"Why is it that having the Inner Scholar out of somebody for so long cause this amount of damage?" Literature asked Lia with her eyes fixated on Haku.

"I think it's because you all need that kind of ambition that us Inner Scholars need to function." Lia explained," Having them extracted out from you is actually something that can take quite the toll on you mentally, having them corrupted ultimately shuts down your system, as does being separated from them after a while. But, something tells me Nao's Inner Scholar been infected by whatever those Delinquous were made of."

Literature knelt down towards the sphere that Haku was held in and brought her hand close to it. When she got close enough, she saw black sparks emit from outside of the orb, acting as some kind of force-field.

"You're right..." Literature affirmed before an awful thought came to her," What if Temptasia's taken everyone's Inner Scholars already?"

Lia wasn't sure how to respond to that and quickly, Literature said," I can't think like that right now, I need to think about the matter at hand!"

Literature stared down at the sphere under her and summoned her scepter again.

"Pretty Cure, Mage's Story." Literature called out as she pressed the tip of her scepter against the sphere, causing the sphere to shatter upon contact. When the sphere was broken, Haku came to moments after and had a look of relief on his face when he saw Literature.

"I'm so glad to see you!" Haku cried as he came near towards her. Literature smiled down to him as he floated before her.

"You too, but...you've got to get back into Nao right now." Literature declared as she stood up, staring at Nao. When she walked up towards Nao, she kneeled beside him, biting her lip as she continued to look at him," Weird, he's paler than usual."

"What was the point of all this? To hurt everyone and cause all this chaos? Why does Temptasia want the book so much that she's willing to harm innocent people who had nothing to do with any of this?" Literature questioned in a somewhat exhausted voice as she looked at Nao.

Haku landed on Nao's chest and disappeared as he retreated back inside of Nao. When he disappeared, Nao stirred moments after and Literature felt her heart racing all over again. Nao awoke and rose up silently, sitting up straight with his gaze lowered and not yet even acknowledging Literature's presence. When he did see her, he said nothing and only raised an eyebrow.

"How long were you there?" Nao questioned as he narrowed his eyes at her.

Literature seemed a little irritated by that questioned and responded with," What, no thank you?"

"For staring at me?" Nao asked groggily as he rubbed his eyes. Literature took a deep sigh and kept quiet while Nao smirked.

"Thanks." He then said to her just before an awkward silence insinuated. Literature grinned and helped him up as she said,

"No problem, but...you gotta get out of here. Now."

"Remember what happened last time I left you while we were running for our lives?" Nao reminded her with a snicker as the two of them exited the room.

"Yeah, I saved the day." She reminded him with a half-smile appearing onto her face as she pushed him towards the door that the Headmistress and Jun exited from.

Nao seemed hesitant as he was pushed towards the door," Hold on, how do you know this will lead to the exit out of here?"

Literature double-blinked and replied," I don't."

"Then why are you pushing me towards it?" Nao questioned, sounding a little agitated.

"Well, that's the door that the Headmistress and Jun used to...You know what? Never mind. Chances are, the two of them will come back through that door after they found Renny and the others. So...just stay put until they come back so they can lead you out of here." Literature instructed.

"And what are you going to do until then?" Nao asked as Literature walked up towards the other door in the room, winking to him as she said,

"Like I said before, save the day."

When Arithmetic broke the sphere that imprisoned Tsubaki's Inner Scholar, the little creature awoke moments after and looked at Arithmetic curiously as she floated towards her.

"Who are you?" Hoops asked her.

Arithmetic,"Uh, I'm Cure Arithmetic and I'm going to save you and Tsubaki."

"Oh, alright." Hoops said quietly as Arithmetic walked over to Tsubaki who had been laying on a low platform as well," But, do you have any idea what's going on?"

Arithmetic nodded as she stood in front of Tsubaki and said," A woman named Temptasia has taken over and her reign has let innocent people like Tsubaki become separated from their Inner Scholars and Univer Kingdom is in shambles right now."

"Univer Kingdom?" Hoops repeated unsurely as she looked at Arithmetic in confusion.

Arithmetic raised her eyebrows, surprised that Hoops had no idea about Univer, but disregarded her ignorance as she motioned the green Inner Scholar to return to within Tsubaki. Hoops complied and disappeared as she went back into Tsubaki and moments after, Tsubaki awoke.

"What happened?" Tsubaki questioned as she awoke, rubbing her eyes before she looked around the room she was residing in currently.

"Long story short, a lot of bad stuff has happened, but the good news is, I'm going to put an end to all this with my team shortly." Arithmetic declared as she knelt down in front of Tsubaki.

"Are we in the school?" Tsubaki asked as her eyes darted around the room curiously," I don't remember how I even got here. Wait...Kanari?"

Arithmetic seemed quite surprised that Tsubaki recognized her, reddening a bit as she averted her gaze from her whilst asking," How did you know?"

"I didn't." Tsubaki responded softly before letting her gaze fall to the floor," So, you've been doing this for how long now?"

"Longer than you'd think." Arithmetic confessed sheepishly," Anyways, I have to get going, so...just stay here for now ok?"

"Ok. But, be careful alright?" Tsubaki pleaded quietly as Arithmetic was leaving the room. Just before Arithmetic left, she nodded vigorously to Tsubaki in response.

Just as History broke open the sphere keeping Yoshino's Inner Scholar prisoner, the orange little creature awoke alarmed but as it saw History, it seemed a little relieved. The Inner Scholar, Phoebe floated near to History as she stood up, walking towards her mom nervously.

"How great to see you again Chiyo~" Phoebe greeted, surprising History so much that she stopped walking over to her mother to ask Phoebe,

"How did you know it was me?"

"Please, I've existed many, many years before you were born, and I've seen you from inside Yoshino. You're practically as much my daughter as you are Yoshino's." Phoebe explained.

History, bewildered and a little unsettled by such a strange thought, continued to walk towards Yoshino without saying another word to Phoebe.

The Cure clad in yellow then awkwardly said to the little creature," You need to-"

"-Say no more." Phoebe declared as she closed her eyes and put a hand in front of History and disappeared. As Phoebe returned back inside Yoshino, she eventually awoke. She seemed rather startled as she found herself sitting in this dark, cold room atop of an even colder platform. But, she didn't ask any questions as to how she got here and simply said,

"You make an amazing blonde Chiyo."

 _"Why does everyone know it's me?"_ History thought to herself," Look, something really bad happened and, I need to fix things before it's too late, so...do you think you could just stay here?"

Yoshino looked at History for a few solid moments before delivering a response to her and finally she asked," How are you going to fix things?" History was already walking out of the room as her mom asked that and drew out a long sigh as she tried to think of a response.

"My team and I...we'll know what to do when the time comes." History answered briskly as she stood in the doorway of the room.

"Isn't there anything I can do to help?" Yoshino questioned, concern ringing out in her voice as History stood still. She didn't give a response for a few long hard moments, and was starting to worry Yoshino a little before she said,

"Just wish me good luck."

"So, do you know if he's going to wake up soon?" Crescens asked Science as she sat beside the unconscious Minato. Science only shook her head, indicating that his guess was as good as hers. Science repositioned uneasily as she looked at Minato, awaiting him to awake so she could just reunite with her team already. She didn't have all day, but she couldn't just leave him at a time like this. Just then, a thought that made Science's heart lurch came to her and she looked at Minato fearfully. She put on a brave smile, trying to reassure herself that what she was thinking couldn't be possible since Crescens was floating right beside her.

But, just to make sure, Science brought her ear close to Minato's heart and as she did, she could clearly hear him say," What's going on?"

She pulled herself away from his chest instantly, more alarmed than embarrassed as Minato sat upright. She looked around for Crescens for a few moments and realized he must've retreated back inside Minato.

Science quickly took a moment to compose herself again before she said," Look, something bad happened to you, but even worse is happening to everyone else right now. And, it's up to me and my team to set things right. So, if you could, just hold tight here and let me do my job."

"Is everyone going to be alright?" Minato questioned nervously as Science stood up.

"Just like you, they'll be fine after we fix things. So...just stay here please." Science instructed tonelessly as she made her way out of the room. Science hurried out of the room and deserted Minato as he tried to figure out what just happened.

He double-blinked and Crescens came out, with Minato looking as if he was ready to consult him about something that just came to his mind.

"You know, I don't really think she's Yugure anymore..." Minato stated as he stared at the door way.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Crescens inquired in confusion as Minato continued to stare at the door way.

"It's just, Yugure's usually got this lovesick look in her eye every time she talks to me and this girl didn't." Minato explained in a brash voice as he ran a hand through his hair. Crescens merely side-eyed him and chose not to say a word as Minato sat there.

"Do you remember everything now?" A figure asked Kokoro as she sat on a chair, viewing memories that seemed vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't even understand why," And don't try lying to me, I know that you've seen this all before. Be it as a random vision while walking on the street, to feeling such wrath that you wondered where all that hatred came from, to those reoccurring dreams that you choose not to tell anyone about. Those dreams where you find yourself in a land far away, of grassy pastures and infinite knowledge. This familiar yet foreign land where it's as if...you've lived here all your life but then, that couldn't be possible. You were born to normal parents, in a normal family, with normal friends to live a normal life. So, why is it that you're always having these reoccurrences and finding yourself remembering things that had never happened? Could it be...you were someone much more powerful than you could imagine in a past life? Yes, someone who planned to gain full power over this land you've been dreaming of, someone who could've ruled if that damn book didn't turn those mindless humans against you. Someone, who had been dubbed, the Angel of Darkness."

"So, what are you going to do with me now? What is it exactly you want from me?" Kokoro questioned uneasily as the figure kneeled down beside her.

"Join us. Help us form a trinity powerful enough to destroy those who cross our path and try to exterminate us. You and I both know, there's magic flowing through your veins. You may not want to believe it, but it's pointless to try and deny the fact that you have powers, very special powers bestowed onto you from your past self. Reborn to finish and put an end to what that book started. To reunite with your vessels, the ones who you gave great powers to so that we can finally destroy that book, once and for all." The figure offered with a wicked smile forming on her face.

Kokoro seemed tense as her eyes shifted around nervously, unsure of what she should do.

Literature exhaled one last gigantic breath and opened the door before her. As she walked into the room, she found the rest of her team assembled before her in a large, spacious room illuminated by deep magenta lights, with nothing else vacating it except Temptasia and her throne.

"So the team's all here now, reunited to try and overthrow the queen." Temptasia remarked with a snicker as she glared towards the girls.

"Honestly, what ever made you think any of this was ok? Hurting millions of other people, just to get the book? Why did you need it so much? What was the point in all this?" Literature questioned as she summoned her scepter.

"The point?" Temptasia repeated with her eyes narrowed at Literature," To weed out those that Univer tried to banish, to erase from existence, those who had powers that could defy all the rules and morals that they valued more than the lives of those who could work their way around them."

Temptasia snapped her fingers and a bright, neon pink flame appeared in her hands," We have powers and we are magical beings. For years, we had been ostracized and despised and we won't rest until we reverse the book's doing and rewrite everything, making it so that you, you powerless mortals never existed and it'll just be us, witches who have control over all."

"In all honesty..." Temptasia began in her defense, " It's not like I want _everyone_ to suffer. Just those who made me suffer, and my mother, and my sister. I only feel the need to get rid of you girls and the royal family of Univer Kingdom, well, except for one individual of Univer Kingdom's royal family. And after that I'm good!"

"So why punish everyone else?" History questioned, sounding greatly irritated.

"Well, those are the ones that _I_ want to suffer. I didn't even list who my mom and sister wanted to suffer." Temptasia responded with a shrug," Once you girls are taken care of, everything will be in order and finally, I can rule a world of magic, a world where we aren't going to ever need the book. A world where you girls have no business in trying to overthrow me."

"Who's this mom and sister she keeps talking about?" Arithmetic asked quietly as she took a step back. Literature shrugged and Temptasia continued to talk.

"You know, if it weren't for you girls, we would've reached our goal right now. By now, our little prophet would've awaken, she would've read the book backwards and undone years of damage and ruin to the Angel of Darkness' name and she would make it so that your world would've been long been colonized by my kind and none of you would've ever been born. No Pretty Cures, no Royal Family, and absolutely no worthless humans."

"I won't stand for it..." Literature said as she twirled her scepter around in her hands, her head lowered," And I won't stand for you talking down us humans any longer!"

Literature darted up towards her and ran at full speed as she held her scepter out, shouting," Pretty Cure, Enchantress Whirlwind!"

Temptasia then sent one of the flames she had created towards Literature and she barely dodged and her attack missed Temptasia. Literature looked behind her to check and see if any of her teammates had been hit with the flame and was stunned to see that the flame had landed on a rock and had yet to diminish.

"The flame will live on for as long as I will it to, it won't ever die out until then. Not even water or ice could have an effect on it." Temptasia declared smugly," Now show me what you've got, Pretty Cure."

Literature was the first to attack as she threw another whirlwind towards Temptasia, but just then, someone appeared before Temptasia and made the attack disappear into thin air. The figure waved her hand over to Temptasia and fell to the ground unconscious.

"Goodness sister, you and I both know such malice could never reside in you. You're honestly too good, you're being nothing more than a pawn. Well, a pawn who thinks she can fight when we both know, your magic isn't made for attacking others. So don't think you need to exert your powers because you're a part of this trinity."

The figure appeared before the girls and smiled a warm, unusually kind for the moment, smile to them.

"T-t-tansy?" Literature said nervously as the four of them looked towards her in confusion.

"What's going on?" Science asked worriedly as Tansy leapt down towards them off of the sectioned off part of land where Temptasia's throne was.

"Temptasia's your...sister?" Arithmetic repeated as Tansy neared closer towards them.

"Yes, but it appears she let all the power get to her head. Can't say I'm surprised though." Tansy said with a shrug," Being able to call yourself ruler of a new world is rather thrilling and over-whelming. But, of course, she has very weak powers. Rest assured though, you won't be fighting her."

Bright white flames had emerged from her palms and she sent them flying towards Literature, who didn't have enough time to dodge.

"You'll be fighting me."

Literature's chest felt as if it was burning away once it was in contact with the flame as she fell to her feet. The other Cures rushed towards her and soon, the flame disappeared, leaving the group confused and Literature enraged.

"But...but, why? I don't get it, I thought you were on our side." Literature stated as she winced back the burning sensation she was still feeling in her chest.

"I thought you were dead." Science muttered her breath, though Tansy heard her.

"Me, dead? Heavens, no! I just retreated to my little base away in the Caverns." Tansy explained with her smile appearing more as devilish than kind.

"But then why not get rid of us then?" Arithmetic asked her furiously as she and History help Literature up.

"Well, you can't say I didn't try." Tansy responded as she batted her eyelashes," I did everything I could at the time to keep you girls stuck in the caverns and I even offered you all powers to set you free. Which of course would've ended in your demise had you of taken me up on my offer. But, no, at the same time, I also do enjoy a challenge, and watching you girls come so close to victory when you thought you stood a chance well, that's just the icing on the cake. How could I resist not letting such an event happen?"

"We aren't just going to come close, this ends now Tansy!" Literature declared as she stood up on her own in front of her team.

Tansy shook her head, smiling as she looked towards the Cures with a flaming black and white ring of fire appearing from behind her as well as another pair of flaming white spheres in her hands," So be it. But, allow me to reintroduce myself. I am the successor of the Angel of Darkness, the sorceress who is going to create a new world and wipe out mankind of all those without magic, I am the leader of Temptation, Fantasia."

Fantasia's hair turned into a very, very pale pink, nearly white at the roots, with the rest of it remaining it's usual cerise colour as her her maroon eyes flickered to carmine.

"Let's go!" Literature shouted to her team as she leapt up, with the rest of the group following suit.

"Pretty Cure, Brilliant Supernova!" Science shouted moments after she summoned her scepter, sending her attack directly towards Fantasia.

"Pretty Cure, Immortal Chronicle!" History yelled as her scepter appeared into her hand. Fantasia dodged both of the attacks with her eyes closed but just then, she heard footsteps rushing towards her from behind.

"Pretty Cure, Calculating Meltdown!" Arithmetic screamed as she flung her wrist and sent her attack towards Fantasia.

"Pretty Cure, Mage's Story!" Literature yelled, sending her attack to Fantasia moments after.

Fantasia didn't have enough time to dodge either of these attacks, but even though she had gotten hit with them, she didn't feel a thing. Literature and Arithmetic seemed shocked as she brushed herself off a little, not even seeming the slightest bit hurt.

She snapped her fingers again and this time, four flaming white spheres were floating about both of her hands as she said," Ignite and take on your immortal flame, lock onto your target and end this game."

The flaming white spheres all began to start chasing down each of the Cures, not slowing down or losing track of their designated target as they gained towards them. The Cures ran as fast as they could and leapt as high as possibly could to try and shake off the flames, but it was no use because as soon as each one of them had either a misstep or tripped, the flames saw their chance and rushed towards the Cures instantly, scorching them up first and them binding themselves around the Cures.

They each tried breaking the bands with all their might, but with no avail as the bands just wouldn't budge. Literature gritted her teeth and banged her head against the wall behind her in frustration.

"What, you thought that would be enough to weaken me, or...did you think that foolish attempt would be enough to actually defeat me, the Angel of Darkness' successor?" Fantasia questioned as a smile appeared on her face again," Don't make me laugh."

"I can't honestly believe you girls are even fighting against this when so many from Univer shared the same fate as my sister and I, to a lesser degree of course. They've been either isolated after exposing their powers, or they have to keep their magical impulses in check in fear of being cast away from the Kingdom. We could've had some kind of compromise say, half of Univer went to the scholarly bunch and the other half to us get our own little place in the Kingdom where we didn't have to bother anyone. But, that stupid, wretched book decrees that any user of magic is to be done away with. So of course, it's either us or you creatures." Fantasia declared," And now, that I have the lot of you all stagnant and harmless, it's time I put the rest of my plan into action."

Just then, Fantasia summoned a scepter that appeared to have been made of a twisted branch with a bright white and black in the center orb residing inside of the branch. After she summoned the scepter, she then brought two people into the room. Those two people being Kokoro and Ayuki. Ayuki remained dormant and as braced against the large, broad support where Temptasia's throne had rested. Kokoro leaned against the support anxiously as her eyes darted around the room before setting her eyes onto Fantasia. She looked tense as Fantasia turned towards her with an inviting smile on her face.

"Kokoro? What are you doing here?" Literature questioned as she writhed around with the bindings.

Kokoro just looked at Literature curiously before saying in realization, sounding rather upset now," Renge...you were the Pretty Cure all this time weren't you?"

Literature hung her head, feeling both very frustrated and defeated," Yeah but, I was only trying to keep you safe and avoid dragging you into this."

"How very noble of you, but such a plan would've never worked as you were trying to keep the reborn Angel of Darkness safe." Fantasia declared as she waved a hand in Kokoro's direction," She's the one who first stood up to the book and tried ending it's tyranny, if only it hadn't turned everyone against her. And here on my left we have..."

Fantasia waved her hand towards the unconscious Ayuki," The sleeping prophet Ayuki also known as Miss Fortune. Rumor has it, someone in this room had stolen the mirror where Ayuki's soul had been sealed in hopes that I wouldn't ever be able to get the mirror back, but lucky for me..."

Fantasia began walking up to Science who acted as casually as she possibly could for the situation," I didn't need to search all that hard."

Science felt the gaze of everyone in the room on her and all she could was look towards the ground in shame, unsure of what she could say to defend herself. Fantasia smirked as she knelt down towards Science and took the compact from inside the sash tied around her dress. Science continued to keep her head down as Fantasia walked away with the compact in hand, still feeling those stares from around the room on her. But then, from the corner of her eye, she noticed Literature had been trying to wear away at the bindings with her scepter that currently had a faint pink glow at the top of it. Science kept her mouth shut as Literature worked away at the bindings while Fantasia held the mirror up in front of Ayuki's body.

 _"I doubt she'd be able to get her out."_ Science thought to herself," _She only ever spoke to me the one time and after that, absolutely nothing."_

When Fantasia opened up the mirror she chanted," In another dimension resides the soul of this girl, the last piece of the puzzle for me to fix this world. Free her from the mirror and let her awake and arise, let her do my bidding and let her meet the mortals' demise!"

Just then, Literature broke the binding free and ran at break-neck speed towards Fantasia. Fantasia heard the footsteps coming and spun around, seeing Literature up high in the air with her scepter behind her head before she shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Mage's story!"

The attack hit, but inevitably didn't do much, but Literature had fallen onto Fantasia. Fantasia seemed a little bruised up after just getting toppled onto the ground. Literature didn't waste a single moment and straight up punched Fantasia in the face. The white-haired sorceress seemed immensely enraged as she stood up and held Literature up by the scruff of her dress, glaring directly into her eyes with malice.

"You're going to wish you never did that." Fantasia declared as she held the scepter up in front of Literature with her free hand. The scepter's orb than began to glow brighter and brighter with each passing second, as if charging up while Literature tried to break free from Fantasia's clutch.

"This juvenile game ends now." Fantasia hissed to her.

Just then, the words, "Pretty Cure, Nebula Flash!" could be heard and a swarm of violet planets and stars came rushing towards the two of them, detonating and causing Fantasia to let go of Literature, who had been just as hurt as Fantasia. Literature landed on the ground and looked over to Science to see how she was able to attack and saw that the Headmistress and Jun were with them now, having broken the bindings of almost everyone except History currently. The trio of birds were flying beside them and Literature breathed a sigh of relief as she rushed over to the group.

"You guys had me worried..." Literature panted as she looked towards Renny," Oh! That reminds me!"

"Don't worry, we have everyone who remained in the castle evacuated and currently they're at Univer Palace, alright?" The Headmistress explained to her.

Literature nodded and noticed that Fantasia was glaring towards Jun, who was too busy to even notice her as he saw Ayuki slowly coming to.

"Traitor! You, absolutely useless, back-stabbing traitor!" Fantasia fumed as she began marching over to Jun, who was getting cornered. Arithmetic, Science and Topher tried use themselves to create an obstacle for Fantasia, but all she did was blow up the ground below them and sent them to their feet.

"Reform into dust for infinite hours and crumble away at the sight of my powers!" Fantasia chanted when suddenly she had been kicked in her side and thrown onto her feet again.

"Who dares interrupt me now?" Fantasia bellowed before seeing Ayuki, standing a few feet away from her, having woken up after having her soul transported back within her.

"Try and hurt either of these two again and I'll end you." Ayuki threatened furiously while Fantasia didn't seemed even the slightest bit frightened. Fantasia did nothing but roll her eyes and made a finger gun and shot it towards Jun, with a bright white flaming sphere hurling towards him at the speed of light.

"Jun!" The Headmistress and Ayuki both screamed at the top of their lungs. Jun was knocked onto the ground, his head swimming as his mom and sister tried helping him back up to his feet. After getting hit with that sphere, his skin tone reverted back to it's regular beige complexion and his eyes turned back to their original colour of lilac.

"Are you alright?" The Headmistress asked as she leaned down beside Jun as he nodded, wincing back all the pain he was feeling.

"Wait, where did she go?" History questioned as Fantasia was unable to be found within the room. Fantasia then suddenly appeared behind Ayuki and wrapped her arm around Ayuki's neck.

"Now, Miss Fortune, I don't plan on wasting anymore time." Fantasia declared, as she made the scepter disappear and summoned up the Book of Omnipotence," You're going to undo years of tarnish to the name of magic-users all around and your going to erase the existence of Univer Kingdom and every human that polluted both the Kingdom and this world."

"But, for her to be able to do that..." Arithmetic began uncertainly.

"She'd have to possess Acumen? Oh, you had no idea did you?" Fantasia questioned, holding back on a laugh," I take you girls must've been searching for Acumen for awhile now by the tone of your voice. Well, look no further, the owner of Acumen is right before you all."

"You and I both know you can't gain full control of me Fantasia..." Ayuki choked out, her bangs obscuring her eyes," You would need two witches for that."

Fantasia tightened her grip around Ayuki's neck as she demanded," Don't call us that. And besides, I already have my second sorceress right here."

She then waved her hand in Kokoro's direction and Kokoro tensed up again. Fantasia offered Kokoro another painfully kind smile as she looked at her and Kokoro's gaze just went to the ground after catching a glimpse of that smile.

"Your move, Kokoro." Fantasia stated before the room fell silent. All these stares were driving Kokoro mad, making her feel ready to lose composure fast. Everything depended on her right now but thankfully, she had no difficultly in figuring out what was the right thing to do.

"No, I won't help you." Kokoro declared firmly," There's absolutely no way I'm letting you rewrite and change anything about this world."

"Why not? Need I remind you, that you were willing to before? That you had been humiliated and isolated and had hundreds of people turned against you because of this thing?" Fantasia reminded her as she carelessly waved the book in her hand.

"Well, who I was in a past life doesn't change who I am today!" Kokoro responded," I suppose that what once happened to me must've hurt you greatly to have had led you to do this, but I'm telling you, I won't allow it! Humans have just as much of a right to live on this Earth as users of magic do, so please, don't do this!"

"Fine, then I guess I'll just have to use my last resort sister. You been awake for a while, haven't you?" Fantasia inquired as she looked up towards Temptasia, who had been curled up into a ball as she looked down to her sister. Her hair was starting to turn fuchsia and her eyes seemed strangely larger as she stared at Fantasia nervously.

Temptasia shook her head violently as she shut her eyes shouting," I'm not helping you either! All you've been doing is hurting others and bossing me around, telling me that this is what mother would've wanted but, after seeing her say this is wrong, I know now for sure this isn't the right thing to do!"

"Well, then that means I'll just have to make you help me." Fantasia declared as she leapt up towards Temptasia's throne, letting go of Ayuki and placing her hand over Temptasia's head, draining her of her powers as she was knocked unconscious again. Fantasia shook her head as she knelt down beside her sister, giving her a look of pity.

"You make it too easy." Fantasia stated with a scoff," Now then, Ayuki, wouldn't it be easier for you to give up while you can?"

Ayuki said nothing as she took a protective step back before the Headmistress and Jun stood in front of her. Fantasia leapt off of the support where Temptasia and her throne sat and walked over to Ayuki, paying no mind to all the people standing in her way.

"Pretty Cure, Archaic tremor!" History shouted, resulting in Fantasia to act quick and leap up to her feet. She didn't seem the slightest bit impressed and moments after, Literature leapt up in front of her and the two fought in mid-air.

"Don't you think this has gone on long enough? Nobody wants to help you and you can't reach Ayuki as long as we're here!" Literature shouted as she dodged a punch from Fantasia.

"This is nothing compared to what _I_ had to go through my entire life at Univer Kingdom! You humans are pathetic, you think this is bad? Trust me, you could've had it a whole lot worse had you have been born with the ability to use magic."

Both girls landed a kick in the other's chest and they both were sent flying backwards into the walls. As Fantasia was struggling to get up, she saw something bright from the corner of her eyes and saw that the four of them had their scepters pointed towards her.

"As our journey to find ourselves begins I call upon my scholar within!" Literature chanted as she summoned Lia in the process, who bestowed to her a rose-gold key. She placed her key into the scepter and it grew longer.

"With ardency!" Literature cried as she held her scepter up high.

"With precision!" Arithmetic cried.

"With justice!" History cried.

"With wonder!" Science cried.

"Pretty Cure, Scholastic examination!" They all shouted in unison, blasting their attack towards Fantasia.

To their surprise though, Fantasia simply conjured up her scepter again and the orb within the scepter absorbed the attack and spat it out towards the Cures, having been mixed with whatever malicious breed of magic that was within Fantasia's weapon.

The Cures were all thrown towards the walls, having been battered and bruised up greatly. There was something about getting hit by your own purification attack that just felt so unreal. Either there attacks were stronger than they thought, or they had lower stamina than they realized. The girls just couldn't move an inch and Kokoro rushed to Literature's side as the rest of the group flocked to the team.

"Renge, are you ok?" Kokoro questioned as Literature pressed her hands against her ankles," What am I saying? Of course you're not ok."

"Alright, playtime's over. Now hand over Ayuki." Fantasia demanded as she brushed herself off, walking towards the group.

"Absolutely not, she's no object and I won't allow you to refer as such." Jun responded sternly, kneeling beside Arithmetic.

"You're still holding out for Cure Wisdom aren't you?" Fantasia asked playfully as she pointed a finger to the Headmistress,"I can tell by that impatient look in your eye. Well let me just break to you easily and tell you she's nothing more than a fairytale!"

"Univer Kingdom was the world that did you wrong, so why go and wreak havoc on their world too?" The Headmistress questioned in a desolate voice, trying to drive the subject away from Cure Wisdom as she stood up from her spot beside History and put herself in front of the group.

"No matter how much you have, how can you turn your back on more?" Fantasia questioned with a wicked laugh trailing behind as she inched closer to the group," No matter where you live, you humans will turn against some form of anomaly. Something they're too afraid of to comprehend and choose to abhor that anomaly rather than educate themselves and figure out how they can make a positive contribution to society. Wouldn't it have been grand to live in such a world where we weren't hated for who we were? No, not if we'd have to keep an eye on those humans, waiting for the day when they revolt and turn against us. No, we can't live in harmony, that's nothing more than a fairytale. We either live in fear of tomorrow or, we put an end to those who have made our lives a living nightmare."

"I think it's possible." Literature commented quietly, but not quiet enough to go unheard by Fantasia, who simply narrowed her eyes at her. Literature stood up slowly, with some aid from Kokoro as she continued to speak.

"If we worked hard enough, I think we'd be able to create a society where you are sorcerers could be treated as equals and not have to worry about getting cast out. I don't think it's fair how you have been treated but it doesn't excuse how you've been acting after taking the Inner Scholar's of everyone else, including the ones from this world, who have nothing to do with any of this. Speaking of which..."

"You'd like to know what I did with everyone's Inner Scholars, wouldn't you?" Fantasia questioned as she conjured up a multi-coloured orb and held it in her right hand. The group eyed the orb suspiciously and Fantasia tossed it up and down as she said,

"They're going to help me deliver my finishing blow to you girls, since it'd be a waste of my powers to do you in." Fantasia explained as she switched out the orb that had been in her scepter before with the one she had just conjured up," Can't say it was a pleasure knowing because it really wasn't."

Literature, now shaking with anger, hung her head for a few moments before lifting it back up, looking at Fantasia angrily as she said,"You just can't do this! Humans may've done you wrong but, that doesn't mean that everyone needs to suffer, especially the ones who have nothing to do with this! And, the ones who have wronged you may've made a grave mistake, to treat you like some kind of monster but, that doesn't mean they can't learn from their mistakes."

Fantasia walked closer to Literature as she said," But they won't _ever_ learn, as long as that book dictates that we're the bad guys, things will never change. So all that's left for me to do is follow the book's instructions and act as expected to; only worse."

"No, you don't have to act like this. You can prove everyone wrong, it really doesn't have to be like this." Kokoro commented, standing behind Literature cautiously.

"But that's the thing, I don't want to prove everyone wrong." Fantasia replied as she crossed her arms," I want them to be erased from this world because with magic, all dreams can be possible and hard work becomes unnecessary when magic is involved."

"But would those dreams having any meaning if they were reached without hard work?" Arithmetic questioned as she stood up beside Literature.

Fantasia lowered her head for a moment, smirking, before she responded," I shouldn't have expected a different response. Since without magic, you humans have constructed this ridiculous mindset that all you need is hard work to get what you want in life. As if hard work has gotten everyone everything they've ever wanted. Hard work doesn't secure everything, it doesn't always work out in the end. Magic however, can give you everything you could've ever dreamed of and more."

History began solemnly as she stood up on the other side of Literature,"If things have yet to work out..."

"...It's not really the end yet, is it?" Science finished as she stood up beside History.

"It's true that magic may give you what you want with ease but, there's this irresistible sense of pride all of us get in watching our dreams come true and our goals accomplished. Magic or not, you yourself must've felt that before too haven't you?" Literature questioned as she slowly took a few steps towards Fantasia.

"The only sense of pride I get is when I get weed out these worlds of hopeless mortals like yourself!" Fantasia declared as she took one step closer to Literature, holding her scepter out in front of her and forcing her to take a step back. Literature tripped as she took this step back, landing on her rear as Fantasia held the scepter even closer to her.

"You think you can fix everything by talking things through? By proposing a change that could never happen from a group of people who would rather side with a book rather a sentient person? My goodness, I've never met such an absolute moron like yourself! You can't fix centuries worth of damage by mere persuasion, even if you've somehow managed to swindle both my own sister and the Angel of Darkness. Well, at least you get to be the first person I wipe off the face this planet." Fantasia declared as the orb starting glowing an intense bright white. So bright it was blinding and no one in the room could withstand looking towards it.

Literature shut her eyes and just then, another white light had emerged into the room, this time from Literature.

She opened her eyes wide and found that she and the girls were in a white, pink, blue, yellow and violet void.

"What happened? Did we die?" Literature asked as she felt her face, worried that her hands might pass through it.

Arithmetic shook her head vigorously and Science pointed out the pair of keys slung around Literature's neck.

"Is that our power-up key?" Science inquired.

"They're both glowing really bright." History commented as Literature took them off of her neck. She tossed the key Jun had given to her to Arithmetic, who caught it with her forehead before it fell into her cupped hands.

"Let's end this once and for all." Literature concluded as she held out the power-up key high before awkwardly urging History to come near to her.

History held onto the key with Literature and Science held onto Arithmetic's key.

"Pretty Cure, Examination Preparation!"

Literature and Arithmetic were the first to be given new outfits, an insignia of their power-up and then after they had received power-ups, they tossed the keys to History and Science respectively. Once they all received their power-ups, the white lights had died down and revealed the four of them in light-coloured dresses with crowns of their respective keys' colour atop their heads and cameo necklaces worn against their necks.

"Graduation mode!" The quartet shouted in unison.

"Oh my, you still haven't given up, despite all this. But whatever, it's not like you can win. Just because you got some new outfits doesn't mean I'm any less powerful than you girls." Fantasia declared as she held her scepter, the white orb glowing brightly again, out in front of the girls.

"Now's our only chance..." Arithmetic declared as she looked down to her now white and blue scepter in hand.

"We can restore everything back after this..." History stated as she held her scepter tightly before closing her eyes.

"Everyone will be saved if we can win here..." Science mentioned as she brought her scepter close to her chest.

"All we've got to do is put an end to Fantasia's reign." Literature said as she pointed her scepter in front of Fantasia," Ready?"

The Cures nodded and they held out their scepters in front of Fantasia before they all shouted together," Pretty Cure, Graduating Celebration!"

A bright, multi-coloured light had shot out from the Cures' scepters and went straight for Fantasia.

Fantasia held her scepter up in front of the Cures, using the bright white light to try and fend off the Cures' attack. She thought the attack might've obliterated her, but then the light from her own scepter had gotten stronger upon sensing Fantasia's distress.

"I'm going to do it, I'm going to finish these girls!" Fantasia cackled as her light grew brighter.

As the rest of the group saw the Cures having difficulty against Fantasia with her light coming closer to them, they all instinctively each helped out the Cures. Though they may have not had powers like the girls, the least they could do was try and help them.

Ayuki took a hold of Science's scepter, while the Headmistress held onto History's. Jun held onto Arithmetic's scepter and Kokoro held onto Literature's.

"No, I'm not going to let a bunch of useless mortals defeat me!" Fantasia shouted angrily as she held her scepter as tightly as she possibly could.

"Forget it Fantasia, you can't win like this!" Literature shouted back to her.

"No...no, I won't let this happen..." Fantasia moaned as she watched the light she was trying to fight back come closer to her. Her own light was fading fast and she held onto her scepter for dear life as she shut her eyes tightly.

Her light was gone now and the light from the Pretty Cure's scepters had reached her. The light enveloped her completely and there was no fighting against it now. She hung her head as the lights around her continued to glimmer.

"A-plus!" The four of them shouted in unison.

When the lights had flickered and dimmed down, Fantasia was astonished to find that she was still here and not erased from existence. More than astonished, she was speechless as she looked at her hands, trying to figure out if she had just transcended the plane of reality she had been used to and if this was the afterlife, just her living her regular life as if she never had been killed, for all of eternity. Still fixated on her hand, she didn't notice Literature walking up to her.

"What is this, have I...have I been spared?" Fantasia questioned as she took her gaze away from her hand and looked towards Literature who knelt down in front of her.

"You do realize we never had any intent to kill you right?" Literature asked her.

"You punched me in the face." Fantasia reminded her flatly with her eyes narrowed.

"I got carried away?" Literature responded with a shrug, hoping that reason would've been good enough for Fantasia," Anyways, I still believe humans can change. But I'm not sure what it will take to have you believe us, so...do you have any suggestions?"

Fantasia thought deeply for a few moments and finally answered," Rip out the page from the Book of Omnipotence that says users of magic are to be shunned."

Literature seemed surprised but in truth, she didn't expect any less from the woman who tried to destroy them. Literature, Fantasia and everyone else in the room turned their attention to the Headmistress.

"Well, what do you say Headmistress?" Fantasia questioned. The Headmistress appeared greatly hesitant as she adverted her gaze from Fantasia and stared at the ground.

"Just as I thought, I can't expect to break traditions on the account of my own suffering as well everyone else that the people in Univer don't care about." Fantasia declared as she snapped her fingers, with sparks of magic that turned into a haze around her fingers appearing from them," Which is probably why my magic's all been plain, monochromatic black and-"

"-White?" Fantasia watched as her haze was changing colours before her eyes, still predominately a white haze, but now, all colours of the rainbow could be found trailing within it.

"It would appear the attack has purified you magic." Jun observed as Fantasia looked at the haze she created in bewilderment.

"Purified?" History repeated curiously as she looked over to Jun.

"The Angel of Darkness was both a wielder of light and dark magic. When she had her two daughters, one received only the dark magic while the other received the light." The Headmistress explained," Now, Fantasia no longer has dark magic, so her powers can't harm anyone."

Slowly but surely, everything was being restored back to the way it once was. After Fantasia released the Inner Scholars of everyone out of the orb and smashed the white crystal ball inside the scepter, the school was beginning to return back to normal.

Once Fantasia handed back the Headmistress then decided to bring everyone to Univer Kingdom, so that they could all witness her rip out the page from the Book.

As they walked back to the palace having been transported to the Kingdom, Arithmetic tapped Science on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Hm?" Science sounded as she spun to Arithmetic.

"Rishi told me to give this to you." Arithmetic said quietly as she held out the star-shaped locket. Science stopped walking and stared at the locket in Arithmetic hands before taking it from her. Science gawked down at the locket, her eyes getting glossy really fast. Soon enough she was holding back tears and Arithmetic offered her a smile full of sympathy and she quickly took Arithmetic's shoulder to cry on.

Lucky for Science, nobody noticed them as they were all too focused on getting to the palace.

History then said quietly to Renny as they walked," You know, I still don't understand why she needed to abduct our friends and family."

Renny couldn't give her a reason as to why and then Fantasia said shakily with her backs turned to them," I needed them to track down the book, since a self-conscious Inner Scholar is much more powerful that a Delinquous and also...I wanted to see you all in misery having been separated from your loved ones."

"But, how did you know they were our loved ones?" History asked in suspicion.

"A sorceress has her ways." Fantasia answered softly as they approached the palace.

The Headmistress was about to open the door, but then someone had opened from inside for her instead. In the doorway stood Tsubaki in a strangely lavish dress, greeting the group as she let them in.

"You guys are alright? No injuries or anything?" Tsubaki asked, her attention mostly on Arithmetic.

"Yeah, but...what's with the dress?" Arithmetic asked as she kept her gaze at Tsubaki's feet, feeling unworthy to look at her in the dress.

"My uniform had been torn up a bit at the back, so they let me wear some of the Headmistress' old garments." Tsubaki explained as they walked into the palace. In the sitting room, Nao, Yoshino and Minato could be found waiting for the group, with almost all of them looking just as relieved as Tsubaki did when she saw them. Yoshino hugged History fiercely while Science was contemplating on whether or not she should approach Minato.

Literature watched Nao gaze out the window of the sitting room, paying no attention to everything happening around him.

"The question should be are _you_ guys alright?" History asked as she broke the hug.

Yoshino was about to answer, but Jun did the talking for her,"But of course, we left them in good hands after all."

"Good hands?" Literature repeated curiously under her breath before another figure appeared into the room holding a tray of tea-cups in hand.

"Good to see you've already returned." Tamotsu said as he set the tray on the table in the room.

The Pretty Cures were stunned to have found Tamotsu standing before them, in the palace of Univer Kingdom no less, greeting them beside the Headmistress and Jun.

Literature was the one to speak for her group as she said," What's going on?"

Tamotsu smiled to himself before responding," I guess I never told you girls, I'm from Univer Kingdom."

"I think he can recognize us too." Arithmetic whispered to Literature who could only say,'Oh my gosh'.

Headmistress chuckled awkwardly as she placed a hand on Tamotsu's shoulder saying," Tamotsu was the one to help me escort the citizens of Univer to their temporary homes, he's kinda our childhood friend."

"What do you mean by 'kinda'?" Tamotsu and Jun asked in unison, causing most people in the room to laugh.

"So, did Cure Wisdom appear?" Tamotsu then asked, his voice lowered as he made little eye contact with the Headmistress.

"No, turns out she was really nothing more than a myth. But that's ok, we didn't need her today." The Headmistress answered as she looked to the Pretty Cures pridefully.

The Headmistress led everyone to the courtyard. She seemed rather anxious, which made sense given her situation. She grasped the book tightly as she walked to the courtyard, wondering if this would be enough to repair things between the two groups.

"Is it actually possible to rip out a page from the book?" Science asked Topher quietly.

"Depends." Topher answered unsurely as he looked towards the Headmistress," I've heard that it's possible to rip out newly made pages, but of course, no one has ever proven this to be true. The page where it states that users of magic are to be shunned is the only opinion based page in the book so...one could assume it can be ripped out."

"People aren't as hateful towards magic users on Nichibotsushima though." Xan mentioned, only to get his mouth shut by both Renny and Topher.

"Come to think of it, Makena was able to use magic wasn't she?" Science pointed out.

"On Nichibotsushima, we kinda just called them spell-casters..." Topher commented," Using magic isn't actually much of a big deal there compared to the mainland."

The Headmistress stood in front of the group in the courtyard, turning the book to the page Fantasia wanted ripped out.

"I hope this shall be enough to settle things between us and allow us to rebuild our nation as one that is united between us mortals and users of magic." The Headmistress said after taking a deep breath," Because now I see that clearly, this one page is doing more harm than good and I won't stand for it to cause disputes like this any longer."

Fantasia and Temptasia both watched the Headmistress with bated breath as she began to tear out the page from the book. Slowly she tore it off and then, when she got to a point where she couldn't turn back on her action, she ripped it out swiftly and with ease.

"Now, Fantasia. Are you willing to help me and my brother rebuild this nation into one that is accepting of spell-casters?" The Headmistress asked as she offered her hand.

Temptasia stared at her sister nervously, wondering what she was going to do as her breathing quickened without her even realizing it. Everyone seemed just as nervous as Temptasia, the group had fallen silent and all eyes were on Fantasia as she looked at the Headmistress' hand.

"Let's rebuild it and never let something like this happen again." Fantasia declared as she shook the Headmistress' hand.

The Headmistress nodded in agreement and the group cheered upon this decision. During the cheering, Literature looked back to the entrance into the courtyard they came from, having this anxious feeling bubble up in her as she bit her lip, remembering what was going to come after this.

"All that's left is to graduate now." Literature said to herself quietly," And the dinner too, I guess."

Two weeks later, Renge sat in her bedroom watching the sun go down as she tried to distract her thoughts away from her current issues. Exams had either been easier than expected, or she was too nervous about graduation to pay any mind to how difficult her exams really were. Her bags were mostly packed and by mostly, she may've only thrown in about five shirts into her suitcase, deciding that she'll just pack over the weekend. Tomorrow was the dinner and the day after tomorrow was graduation. And then next week, she'd be at University in a new city. The thought of being so far away from home was still worrying Renge and she couldn't help it at this point. But, maybe University would be become a home away from home for her. But, she already had a second home at Seinori.

"I haven't really talked to Kokoro or Nao ever since that day..." Renge said aloud to herself as she reached for the necklace she had left on her window-sill. It was the cameo necklace she had worn in her power-up form. In the necklace, there was what seemed like Kokoro on the pendant, but...she appeared much more masculine. Renge liked the necklace and wondered what the other girls' necklaces looked like. Then she looked at her box of contacts solution sitting on her computer desk.

"I only got contacts so I could wear them for the play and for the dinner. What a waste of money." Renge scoffed to herself," But...at least I have them in case my glasses break. But, I'm not even sure if I want to go to this dinner anymore. It seems pointless now. But I can't just skip out on it, what if I regret not going? But...what if I feel more regret in going?"

"He's going with Miki? Huh, she never even told me." Kanari chuckled awkwardly into the phone," But, I don't think you need him. Though...I want to take my friend Chiyo along with me, is that alright? Great, I guess I'll see tomorrow night ok? Can't wait until then, Tsubaki."

Kanari hung up, lounging on her bed as she looked out her window. She smiled a gigantic smile as she looked out the window and tilted her head back, relishing in the moment. She drew out a deep breath, feeling exhausted all of a sudden as she crashed onto her bed. The sensation of pure joy lingered within her, having never felt so successful in a romantic endeavor in her life. Ok, maybe Tsubaki wasn't viewing it as romantic, but for now, this sufficed.

"So...yeah, basically Fumiko dumped me. Said something about not feeling the way she thought she was going to when she saw me. Like falling out of love." Minato explained over the phone with Yugure," Anyways, are you still looking for a date to Graduation or prom dinner thing?"

Yugure remained silent on the line as she tried to formulate a response for him. She seemed greatly unsure of what to do as her gaze shifted towards the window of her bedroom. She then looked down and saw the star-locket Rishi gave her, the one she had yet to take off since returning from Univer Kingdom. She held the pendant in her free hand and responded to Minato.

"I'll have to get back to you on that, alright?" Yugure said to him," I've got some things to pack so I'll talk later ok?"

Yugure hung up and tilted her back staring up at her ceiling in silence. She lowered her head back and tried to think about something else to ease her mind. She went through her texts and looked over her conversation with Shizuka over the last week. After making Yugure accompany her on searches for Satoshi who could never be found outside class anymore, the two of them caught him during club-time sitting under a tree with Ayano, his head in her lap.

Remembering it made Yugure feel regretful in even thinking about the scene but, it wasn't as bad as her ordeal with Minato.

 _Shizuka was looking through a pair of small binoculars behind a tree as she looked towards a tree a few feet across them, where Satoshi laid in the grass, his head resting in another girl's lap. Shizuka was boiling mad and feeling rather triumphant at the same time as she looked the binoculars. She grit her teeth as she took the binoculars away from her eyes, feeling her cheeks grow hot and her ears even hotter._

" _I don't want to try and look at the girl, I'm nervous she'll look towards me." Shizuka stated in frustration._

" _We came all this way for you to chicken out?" Yugure asked as she took the binoculars from Shizuka. When she brought to them to her eyes and closed in on the face of the girl, she gasped loud enough to get Satoshi and the girl's attention, causing the two girls to retreat to the back of the tree._

" _That's Ayano..." Yugure said, seeming a little less surprised all of a sudden, as if her mind was finally putting the pieces of this puzzle together._

" _Gimme those," Shizuka grunted as she ripped them from Yugure's hands," It couldn't be-! Oh my gosh, it is her. Satoshi replaced me with...Akayama. How could this have happened?"_

 _Shizuka looked towards Yugure expectantly before cradling her head with her hands, hoping she could deliver some words of comfort and reassurance to her._

" _Maybe they've got more in common...?" Yugure suggested with a shrug._

 _Shizuka gave her a glare and arched an eyebrow saying," But...I loved him. And, I made a mistake letting him go! Doesn't he realize how much I care?"_

 _Yugure couldn't say anything and Shizuka just stormed off._

But, Shizuka lucked out as their friend Ryuuji offered to go with her. Yugure wished she could've just gone with Minato but...something in her heart was against it so it seemed she was going to be without a date. It didn't bother her that much, but the fact that she wasn't as overjoyed as she thought she would be when Minato offered did raise her suspicions.

"So I guess that's just it. I'll go by myself. Doesn't matter, I'll have fun with my friends!" Yugure cheered to herself.

The next day, Renge stood in front of the mirror inside her closet door and looked at her herself with a tense look on her face. Yeah, she looked nice wearing her red dress with a jewel embellished bodice but, all of a sudden, the thought of the dinner was a lot less exciting. Well, it hadn't been all of a sudden, the sinking feeling had arisen in Renge a couple of weeks ago and she had yet to figure out a reason why she no longer cared about the dinner. Could it have been because of what the dinner was in celebration was? It was beyond her and she started to think of ways out of this dinner as she continued to look at herself in the mirror.

"Maybe I don't even have to go, mom and Hikaru can go and enjoy themselves without me." Renge thought to herself as she applied a dark pink shade of lipstick in the mirror. She then placed her hand on the ornate low bun her hair was in to make sure it was still in tact at the back. There were braids sprouting from everywhere in the bun and it was indeed quite fancy but, it took quite a bit of hairspray to keep it in place. Renge looked at herself one last time in the mirror, no longer thinking that the contacts had been a waste of money since her glasses weren't something she thought would go well with her outfit.

"Maybe I would've been more excited if I was going with Nao..." Renge mused to herself before shaking her head and reprimanding her reflection as she pointed a finger to it," Quit thinking like that! It's not like he ever gave you anything!"

"...But, he gave me his time and that's something he could never get back." Renge reminded herself.

Later, Renge sat at a dinner table amongst her friends and family, all of them awaiting their meal impatiently while Renge's thoughts continued to trail back to Nao. She rested her head against the table under her folded arms and felt her heart sink just being here. Of course, getting to have this dinner with her friends was nice but just this once, spending a little time with Nao would've been even nicer. Especially on a warm night like this where only a few clouds could been seen and the sun was setting at a nice pace to watch.

Renge reached a point where she felt like she really didn't want to be here and as she scrolled through messages on her phone, she noticed a new text from Kokoro.

 _"Renge, do you think it'd be ok if you could just head over to the back hall in the school? I kinda have a surprise for you."_

Renge's heart started throbbing quickly and achingly after she read the text and forced her act on impulse as she got up from her seat quickly and left the table.

"I'm just going to get some fresh air." Renge declared as she waved a hand of dismissal towards the group. When she was out of the room, she ran as fast as she could in heels without tripping over her dress to the exit of the building. The building where the dinner was being held wasn't too far from the school and Renge could walk there if she really wanted to. But did she really want to, in heels?

"I'll do it and by God, I'll like it." Renge declared to herself stubbornly as she walked to the school.

By the time Renge got to the school, she could already feel the blisters forming on her toes and heels as she dragged her feet to the entrance, wishing that she had a pair of runners to swap into. Never had her feet been through so much anguish, but at least she made it. She then smirked, silently thanking the heavens that her Pretty Cure shoes didn't have any heels on them as she imagined how much more painful it would've been to fight in those.

She slowly walked towards the back-hall and found no one but Nao sitting there, playing a game on his tablet as usual. She held both her hands to her mouth and looked at him wide-eyed and then scoped the area for Kokoro as she looked both ways. It seems the school had remained open for an extra hour. Why that was Renge wasn't too sure of but she didn't care. If memory served correctly, today was the make-up day for exams but usually, a few kids would just go to the school even though they didn't have any exams to take on this day, just to hang out with some of their friends. It appeared Nao was of that populace of kids who went despite not needing to make up an exam. Or, perhaps he did have an exam today and spent the afternoon with his group of friends. But why he was still was of course beyond Renge's knowledge. Did Kokoro put him up to it? At this point, Renge didn't really care.

Awkwardly, Renge sat beside him and quietly he said," Hey."

 _"This is your last chance, don't screw this up."_ The two of them thought to themselves.

Nao thought back to his conversation he had with Haku a few minutes before Renge arrived and Haku was still out in the open.

 _"You're lucky that Kokoro managed to set this up!" Haku chided as he pointed to Nao," Honestly, why can't you be more honest?"_

 _"You're asking as if you have no clue when you probably understand better than anyone else." Nao retorted as he slammed his the back of his head against the wall._

 _"The worst has already happened, so what have you got to lose?" Haku asked him._

 _"Just because the worst has already happened, doesn't mean I can't mess this up." Nao reminded Haku apprehensively as he hung his head," I'm only good at avoiding others now and even if I like Renge, she's going to see right through me. She's going to realize she deserves better if I keep acting the way I do."_

 _"Then don't act like you usually do! Show her you care!" Haku exasperated._

 _"Easier said than done, especially when you're as awkward as me." Nao replied as his gaze shifted to the side, causing Haku to groan in irritation._

Renge seemed frustrated, but it was hard to tell who frustration was supposed to be directed at, herself or Nao. She took a deep breath and felt her heart rattle violently in her chest as she side-eyed Nao.

 _"You've got a girl in her nicest attire sitting beside you when she could be at a dinner right now and you aren't even looking at her?"_ Renge thought to herself.

 _"Damn it, I haven't even looked at her since she sat down! But...something tells me I'm gonna turn beet red if I look at her. Then she might get weirded out..."_ Nao thought to himself nervously.

"Then let her get weirded out! It'd be better than having an awkward silent settle in! And compliment her!" Haku said from inside Nao.

Nao followed instructions and looked towards Renge, seeming quite impressed with he saw. Though all it took for Nao to look impressed was just a small smile since his face didn't always display that much emotion.

"You look nice." Nao commented stiffly, with Renge smiling at him in response.

"Thanks. You know, I was going to go a dinner tonight, in celebration of grad but...when I got there, I was getting bored and I was wanting to spend the night with someone else. Lucky for me, I got to spend the night with that someone else." Renge responded, forcing Nao to drop his gaze for a moment to regain composure.

"It's funny, I had been so excited for this night but then, I stopped caring at the beginning of the month. I think once it started setting in about what this dinner was celebrating, I just felt a lot less enthusiastic. Like just time just flew right by me."

"I guess that's to be expected when you're saving the world." Nao commented, with Renge laughing a somewhat bitter laugh in response," Um, thanks again for saving me and everyone."

"It wasn't a big deal." Renge responded as she smiled and waved a hand in dismissal.

"And, thanks for coming tonight. I know today was supposed to be really special for you and stuff and you're just spending it with me and..." Nao trailed off as his gaze went towards his tablet with an uncertain look in his eye.

"Don't do that." Renge stated, with Nao looking at her in question as to what she was talking about," I like hanging out with you, so get the wrong idea if I'm quiet, ok? I'll try my hardest to keep up a conversation, but that doesn't mean you can't put in any effort got it?"

"Got it." Nao complied as he put the tablet on sleep mode.

"I'm really sorry for all the awkwardness and everything else when we were together. Do you think you could forgive me?" Renge asked him as she looked him in the eyes, trying her absolute hardest not to break eye contact.

"Yeah..." Nao answered, seeming questionably fretful right now. Renge wondered why and then she caught on, her smile dropped in an instant and her pupils shrunk as she began to feel just as nervous as him. Would it be pointless in asking? Or, could she be spontaneous about it? Maybe it was better to be safe rather than sorry, even if she had be waiting for a little while now.

"Um, would it be ok if I..." Renge asked cautiously as she slowly pointed to her lips.

Nao bit his lip and smiled to the ground before looking up to Renge as he said," Go ahead."

Renge didn't waste another second as she leaned towards him for a kiss.

 _"Maybe it's better that I spent the night like this after all..."_ Renge thought to herself, her eyes of course shut during the kiss.

Later in the night, at the dinner, most of the parents left as the dance began. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, either dancing or sitting amongst their friends at tables. Yugure sat with Tsubaki, Chiyo and Kanari before Kanari dragged Tsubaki and Chiyo on the dance floor. Kanari offered Yugure her hand to get her off her seat and Yugure denied, her thoughts elsewhere as she sat at the table by herself. When the three of them ran to the dance floor, Yugure watched them longingly, thinking about a certain someone. She left her gaze fall to the table and held the star locket's pendant tightly in her hand. No matter what she could be doing here tonight, all her thoughts went to Rishi and somehow, it made her feel lonely in this room full of people. Well, maybe not lonely, but distanced, since nobody except Kanari had any idea about their little relationship. Yugure stood up from her seat and walked towards the doors that would lead to the balcony, if they hadn't been closed off. Yugure leaned against the doors and her heart skipped a beat as the door pushed opened a little as she leaned against it. She then turned around, made sure no one was watching, and twisted the knob. She was astounded to find that the door hadn't been closed, but she didn't complain as she snuck onto the balcony.

Yugure leaned against the railing and continued to stare down at the locket in her hands, letting a small sigh out.

"I think we fell for each other too fast...but, I guess that's no longer a problem since he isn't here anymore." Yugure said as she felt herself holding back on tears. She turned on her heel and leaned her back against the rail as she wistfully looked to the ground.

"How was it possible that some junkie villain was able to win my heart while I was still obsessed with Minato?" Yugure asked herself," At least I didn't go with Minato tonight."

She shut her eyes as she held the locket as tight as she could while saying," I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight."

"Please let me see Rishi one last time, pretty please?"

"It's been a while hasn't it?" Yugure then heard a familiar voice ask her from across the balcony. Yugure's pupil shrunk as she heard that voice, looking over in the direction where the voice came from. Rishi stood there, but, he looked bit more...ghostly. His sandy beige skin now a very pale blue, his hair a darker shade of this grey-blue and the white of his eyes now dark blue with his irises being grey. Yugure didn't care though as she ran towards him, throwing her arms around himself, heedless of the fact that she might've passed through him. He was dressed rather nicely for some reason and Yugure couldn't have been happier to see him.

"How did this happen? I'm not complaining! I'm just curious." Yugure inquired as she looked up towards Rishi, still in his arms.

"Let's just say the locket had been charmed." Rishi answered as he kneeled a little to look Yugure in the eyes," I had it charmed so that you could see anyone you want just once. But I didn't expect you to pick me of all people."

Yugure laughed and just then, the two heard music they could slow-dance playing from inside.

"May I have this dance?" Rishi asked as he held out her hand to her. Yugure nodded and took his hand as he pulled her in and place his hands around her waist. As they danced, Yugure soon noticed that Rishi seemed a little, and not just in appearance. He seemed bashful for a change and a lot unlike his usual self.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked him softly.

"No, actually, the opposite. I did get my memories back..." Rishi began, with Yugure looking rather happy for him in response," But then, my actual personality had returned to me upon getting them back. So, I apologize in advance if I seem shy or anything."

"So tell me, who were you in a past life?" Yugure asked as they danced.

Rishi then noticed his body was slowly but surely disappearing on him, so he had to make this quick.

"Well, I'll tell you this, I had been studying addictions and mental health before my life got cut short. My family thought I had a promising future, but...they were pretty toxic. They were always telling me to change this and that about myself, saying I won't be able to get anywhere despite how smart I may've been. That no one is going to want to work with an allegedly reclusive person like myself. But, I wasn't like that around my friends or my older brother Jai who was a tattoo artist. I don't remember a lot but I think we got into some kind of car crash." Rishi explained," Don't tell me you went to your dinner all by yourself?"

"Well, I went with my friends. Does that count for you?" Yugure asked with a shrug.

"I guess, but I doubt you didn't get a least one offer from somebody." Rishi declared with a smirk.

"Alright, two guys offered. I didn't want to go with the first one and as for the second one...I couldn't bring myself to go with him." Yugure answered," I liked him at one point, but I don't think he ever felt the same way and, even if we went as friends...I don't know, I think I just needed a bit of time away from him. He never looked at me the way you did, as if you saw stars in my eyes."

"I didn't just see stars." Rishi claimed as he looked her straight in the eyes," I saw the entire universe."

"I'm going to miss you a lot..." Yugure sighed as the song ended," Think you could stay a little longer?"

Rishi offered her a bashful smile as he shook his head, taking her chin and giving her a kiss quickly before he entirely disappeared, leaving Yugure by herself again. Yugure sighed and shook her head deciding it was high time to go back into the room and onto the dance floor with her friends.

The next day, it was graduation time. Renge, Kanari and Yugure were equally anxious that morning as this all began to set in as they prepared for the ceremony. For once, everyone in third year wore the uniform as they were supposed to, all of them donning plum-coloured blazers with bright blue trimming. Some complained that their blazers had gotten small and hadn't realized it due to not wearing it in months. Renge played with the loose button on hers before they were ushered into the gym.

The teachers were already seated near the front as assigned to, while the second years were sat behind them. Renge tried spotting out Nao but couldn't see him and decided she'd be better off not thinking about him right now. The parents' had also already been seated and Renge's mother waved to her from the far end of the gym while Hikaru tried to pull her hand down so she wouldn't further embarrass Renge. Renge reddened a bit and adverted her gaze as she got to her seat.

During the entire graduation ceremony, all Renge could thinking about was the time slipping through her fingers as the ceremony went on. How things would change so dramatically after today, how her high-school days would have come to an end after this. She reminded herself that right now, she was still a high-school student and she didn't need to waste time like this.

So when her name had been called, she pridefully said,"Yes!" as she was required to.

After all the students' names had been called, Akemi approached the podium and received a diploma from the principal on behalf of her graduating class. After she received the diploma, a few speeches follow afterwards before the ceremony was complete. The principal had given a speech, Kazuya gave a speech to bid farewell to his upperclassmen and Miki was the last person to deliver a speech, telling her graduating class that their journey had only just begun and their lives started now.

After the speeches were delivered, the ceremony had finally come to an end and the third-year students exited the gym, no longer high-school students.

Once everyone had received their diplomas from their homeroom teachers, they left the school and many of them were getting congratulated by both relatives and second-years.

"Our little Ryo's all grown-up..." Manaki sobbed as he and Ryuuji hugged Ryo.

"I'm older than the both of you." Ryo reminded them flatly, with Manaki sobbing even louder.

"Renge!" Shinko called out as she waved her hand, accompanied by a fellow classmate.

"Shinko!" Renge yelled as she ran towards Shinko, rushing towards her to give her a hug.

She hugged Shinko and hung her head as she said," My time's out here, promise me you'll remain a good student in second year."

"Of course." Shinko replied with an awkward chuckle as Renge broke the hug," Be sure to visit lots ok?"

Renge gave her a somewhat pained smile, remembering that she hadn't got around to telling Shinko that she was going to University out of town as she said," I'll try my best."

When Renge went to go say goodbye to some other people, Shinko quietly held open her pocket and a mint green little creature could be seen.

"No one can see you right?" Shinko asked it.

"I already told you that! Only other people who have their Inner Scholars out in the open can." It answered in a unusually mellow tone.

"You're going to be here for awhile aren't you Minty?" Shinko questioned as she arched an eyebrow with Minty nodding in response, causing Shinko to sigh quietly to herself.

"Chiyo, are you crying?" Kanari asked, literally on the verge of tears as she looked towards Chiyo.

"Uh, no?" Chiyo asked as Kanari could no longer hold back her tears and threw her arms around Chiyo,"Hey, you don't have to cry so much..."

"Don't act like you wouldn't cry as hard if you were graduating." Chiyo heard a voice say from behind her. She spun around and saw a bespectacled Ami standing beside Kazuya standing behind her.

"Nice glasses Ami," Chiyo said as she pried Kanari off," They suit you."

Ami reddened as she heard that, muttering a thank you.

"And Kazuya, that was a really good speech." Chiyo praised with a smile, Kazuya smiling back bashfully upon hearing that.

"Thanks. Um by the way, I heard something about you joining the Drama club next year, are you still wanting to or...?" Kazuya questioned as he looked at Chiyo with a mildly suspicious look on his face.

"Yeah, I hope it wouldn't be an issue since I haven't taken it before. It just seems like a lot of fun." Chiyo explained.

"Not at all! Well, I hope you'll have fun in our club next year." Kazuya replied, with Chiyo nodding in response.

"So...are you two already all packed?" Kanari asked as she sat between Renge and Yugure on a bench near the school doors.

Renge still seemed a little hesitant while Yugure just nodded a firm nod.

"You know, today feels very bittersweet." Yugure stated with Kanari and Renge nodding affirmably in response," It's great to be done with high-school but, all of a sudden I don't wanna leave."

"All of a sudden?" Kanari repeated with a scoff.

"I've been feeling like this since last month." Renge commented as she looked at Yugure with a deadpan expression.

"I have too! Well, to some extent. I mean, yeah it sucks I'm going to leaving you guys and this school and..." Yugure looked like she was beginning to tear up,"...But, I think I'm ready now. Honestly, I feel like I've been ready all this time but I was just too scared to believe I was. I can't wait to be at Yozora, even though..."

Yugure blinked hard and tears started to splash onto her face as she pressed her hands over her eyes. Kanari and Renge hugged her as even more tears started to roll off her cheeks.

"I don't want to leave you guys, I don't want us to drift apart, I want us to stay together longer!" Yugure cried as the girls hugged her tighter. Chiyo then awkwardly walked up to her graduating group of friends and joined the hug just as Renge and Kanari broke it.

"Then we'll just have to call and text each other every single day, alright?" Chiyo declared as she hugged Yugure, with Yugure nodding as tears continued to form in her eyes.

Renge might've been seeing things but as Chiyo broke the hug, she could see tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"I've got to get going, my parents are taking me out for lunch..." Yugure said as she saw her dad's car pulling near to the school," I'll talk to guys when I can, alright?"

"Wait!" Renge shouted before Yugure ran off as she whipped out her phone," Can we all get a picture?"

Yugure nodded and the four of them took the picture just before Yugure left. Soon, Chiyo had to leave as she had plans of her own and then it was just Kanari and Renge for a while.

Kanari began, "So, I guess it's just you and me and-"

"Remember us?" A voice asked, causing the two of them to jerk their heads violently to the right. Standing to their was Renny and Topher in their human forms, with Xan standing behind them.

"Renny!" Renge shouted as she ran to him.

"Topher!" Kanari yelled as she ran to Topher.

They both hugged the person that they had ran to and then they hugged Xan afterwards. Moments later, Topher turned bright red as he began to sputter out a question.

"Would it be alright if I take you out to lunch, K-k-k-k-kanarithmetic?" Topher clamped his mouth shut as Renny laughed awkwardly.

Kanari laughed loudly as she looked at Topher curiously responding," Sure, but that means I'm paying doesn't it?"

"You guessed it." Topher answered as he looked down to his feet.

"We're coming too!" Xan declared as he pointed to himself and Renny.

"Sounds like a plan!" Kanari said as she gave him a thumbs-up, leading the way to Pizza Perfection," Renge, you coming?"

Renge was about to, but then she saw Nao standing by himself and answered," I'll catch up with you guys, alright?"

Casually, Renge walked up to Nao and Nao spotted her, waving to her without saying a word. Renge waved back stiffly and looked both ways to make sure no one was around. She approached Nao and when she was close enough, she hugged him and buried her face in his chest, crying a little.

"It's ok." Nao reassured gently as he ran his free hand through Renge's hair.

"No it's not! I don't get to see any of you guys anymore! I don't get to have lunch at the mall with my friends, I don't get to goof off with you and the other nimrods in Art club anymore! It's not ok at all!" Renge bawled, her words somewhat coherent as her voice was muffled.

"Why didn't you tell me you two got back together?" Kokoro asked as she, Ushio and Hitomu walked up to her.

"Agh! It's really not what it looks like!" Renge declared as she spun around, her hair whipping Nao and her hands unconsciously pressing against his chest.

"Relax, I was only messing with you." Kokoro said as a light magenta and blue creature peered out from underneath her hair. Renge's jaw dropped and she said nothing in regards to the Inner Scholar on Kokoro's shoulder.

"Just think, you're going to be a hot mess just like me in a year's time. Doesn't that scare you?" Renge asked as she wiped a few tears off her cheeks.

"This year was life-changing for you, wasn't it?" Kokoro asked with a small laugh.

That question just affirmed Renge's suspicions of Kokoro remembering everything from the last battle with Fantasia. So that meant, Kokoro still had those powers and was just unable to use them as of right now. Renge really wanted to do some further questioning but decided against it, telling herself she'd save it for another day.

"Yeah, this year was really life-changing." Renge responded as she exhaled a deep breath," But, I'm glad it happened and I wouldn't change a thing."

"Not even Nao brea..." Ushio began, but then trailed off as he Nao mouthing the words shut up.

Renge giggled sheepishly and then Kokoro asked her," I don't you ever did tell us what you were going to be studying at Nishioka."

"Guess I never did huh?" Renge replied with a smirk," I'll be getting a degree in teaching."

Renge seemed confused upon how surprised everyone was with her. Hitomu then said,

"Interesting choice, but I never thought you would be interested in teaching. No offense."

"None taken! And even I'll admit, I even surprised myself to when I started to think that teaching might be for me. But, some things had happened to me this year that really opened my eyes and helped me discover parts of myself I never even knew existed, one of those parts of myself being the fact that well, I like the idea of educating others." Renge explained, with Ushio and Hitomu nodding thoughtfully in response while Kokoro and Nao just gave each other suspicious looks, wondering if they were thinking the same thing.

Hitomu pointed out the pen poking out in Renge's blazer.

"Did you get that with your diploma?" Hitomu asked as he pointed to Renge's Fountain pen of Knowledge. Renge took out the pen and looked at it nostalgically. It of course didn't work as a transformation device anymore but, it did work well as an ordinary pen.

"No I got at the beginning of the year, from a friend." Renge answered as she thought to herself," That's right. Just like Pretty Cure, my adventure here ends. But that doesn't mean my own adventure's over. This just marks the start of another journey. A new opportunity to grow and learn more about myself. After all, one end leads to another beginning."

* * *

 _Author's note: Wow, another finished fanseries. I didn't think I had it in me to do it again. Anyways, I'd like to thank you all for your readership and sticking it out until the end with me. I hope you enjoyed reading this story of mine as much as I did writing it._


End file.
